Moorad nears takeover of San Diego Padres

12 January 2012 | Posted in Sports Properties, Baseball, North America | By Tom Love

The 29 owners of franchises within Major League Baseball (MLB) are expected to approve the sale of the San Diego Padres to a group led by Jeff Moorad for US$200 million in the near future.

The takeover was expected to be finalised on 12th January however the MLB owners instead chose to defer action on the agreement.

"There were a lot of economic concerns," said MLB commissioner Bud Selig after the meeting's conclusion. "The most important thing we do is bringing in new owners, so we have really become very fastidious about whether people can [financially] make it. I'm not suggesting there's anything negative. There were just questions that we didn't have time to answer here. But that's where we are and we're going to do that as expeditiously as possible."

Moorad, who appeared undeterred by the news delivered at the first quarterly ownership meeting of the year, added, "We support this process and are very proud to be part of the process. I look forward to answering some technical questions and moving it along. We got word that there were these questions and we tried to answer them this morning. But it wasn't possible to work that quickly. I told them I was happy to defer and take it up at a more appropriate time."

Moorad's buy out of the Padres has been an ongoing affair for a number of years now. He first took a minor ownership stake in the Padres in March 2009, acquiring US$100 million worth of shares in the team from principal owner John Moores.

In 2010 Moorad upped his stake in the team to 49 per cent and the latest US$200 million agreement sees the former sports agent buy out Moores entirely.

• Moorad relinquishes Diamondbacks share
  
• Moorad ready to spend on Padres

Forbes has valued Moorad's overall investment in the Padres since March 2009 to be worth US$480 million while in March 2011 the magazine valued the Padres franchise at US$406 million.

A special report detailing the owners behind the 30 franchises in Major League Baseball appeared in the December / January edition of SportsPro. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.