MLB Owners To Vote On Padres Sale Next Monday

Major League Baseball’s 29 other owners will vote on the Padres sale on Monday, according to reports from Dennis Lin of The Athletic and Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune. The agreement will need approval from 22 owners, the final step to finalize the transfer of majority control to José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.

The vote is more or less a formality. It should be unanimously approved. Feliciano will become the team’s control person. The sale values the franchise at a record $3.9 billion. Reporting in April suggested that Feliciano would purchase a 30-40% share. It appears the number’s actually a little bit higher. Lin’s report puts it above 40%, while Sanders writes that it’s close to 45%.

Some members of the Seidler family will remain minority shareholders, as will some current minority investors. Feliciano had already been in communication with the front office leading up to the trade deadline. San Diego added around $6MM to the payroll with the trades for Robbie Ray and Casey Mize. They didn’t take on any commitments beyond this year, as those pitchers are impending free agents.

The moves pushed the Padres’ spending into the second tier of luxury tax penalization. They’re up to roughly $267MM in competitive balance tax obligations, as shown on MLBTR’s new Payroll Tracker. They’re currently positioned to pay around $7.32MM in luxury tax as repeat payors, essentially matching their overage fee from 2025. They’d gotten below the CBT line during the ’24 season.

The ownership change comes as the on-field results have turned around. The Padres pummeled the Brewers by an 11-2 margin tonight and have won four straight. They’re 64-57, the first time they’ve been seven games above .500 since the end of May. Tonight’s win combined with losses by Philadelphia and Arizona has moved them into a three-way tie for the final two Wild Card positions in the National League.