Rob Manfred Reveals if Padres Plan to Relocate Under New Ownership

Oct 29, 2024; New York, New York, USA; MLB commissioner Rob Manfred before game four of the 2024 MLB World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

When Peter Seidler's widow Sheel Seidler filed a lawsuit suing her late husband's brothers for control of the San Diego Padres, the details revealed a potential plan to relocate the franchise.

"Indeed, Matt's efforts to promote his brother John as Control Person and to block Sheel may well be part of his efforts to sell, and perhaps relocate, the team, over Sheel's strident objection,"the lawsuit states."In any event, they are a clear breach of his fiduciary duties to Sheel."

Since then, John and Matt Seidler have both refuted her claims and now, so has Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred.

“There has not been a single word or whisper of relocation in the context of the San Diego Padres. San Diego’s a great market with a great facility, not a realistic concern,” the commissioner said.

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MLB owners unanimously approved Seidler’s older brother, John Seidler, as the control person of the San Diego franchise. His appointment will become official once he officially takes over as the trustee of Peter Seidler’s trust, a process that could take about 30 days to complete.

“We approved John Seidler to be the control person of the San Diego Padres once he becomes the trustee of the Seidler trust,” commissioner Rob Manfred said from the MLB owners meetings. “We’re looking forward to continued stewardship of the Padres by a member of the Seidler family, that is really non-controversial.”

Sheel Seidler's lawsuit seeks to overturn John Seidler’s appointment as control person and requests that a neutral third party be assigned to manage the trust. Legal experts indicate that the case could take months or even years to reach a resolution.

Manfred said the lawsuit is a dispute involving Sheel Seidler and the trustees, and “doesn’t really implicate baseball.”

“We have an estate plan, a succession plan that Peter filed, clear and written, what he intended. And we followed the process that is laid out in the plan. That is the trustee appointing a successor control person.”

If successfully appointed, John Seidler will simultaneously succeed Matt Seidler as trustee and Eric Kutsenda as Padres chairman.

“As the holder of the largest individual ownership stake in the San Diego Padres, and the sole beneficiary of the Seidler Trusts, which possess exclusive rights with respect to control of the franchise, I am seeking to be named the control person for the Padres,” Sheel Seidler previously wrote in a statement posted on X.

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