Sale of San Diego Padres Approved by Major League Baseball

Just over one week after the sale was first announced, Major League Baseball has approved the deal giving ownership of the San Diego Padres to a group led by Brian and Kevin O'Malley. 

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the deal was approved without much objection, and the transaction will be finalized "in a week to 10 days."

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Ten minutes into the formal Major League Baseball Owners Meeting, the O’Malley heirs and Fowler were invited into the meeting as Moores departed.

As [now-former Padres owner John] Moores walked down the hall of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Denver, Fowler, Brian and Kevin O’Malley and Tom and Peter Seidler entered the room to the applause of the owners of the other 29 major league teams.

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The sale of the team, according to the report, was for around $800 million. A nice selling point, at least for casual fans, is that Phil Mickelson is a part of the new ownership group. He lives in the San Diego area and can help market the team to fans by giving them a face they know in the owner's boxes. 

All that remains is the front office continuing the rebuilding of the team on the field. The Padres are currently 52-67, 13.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. 

The Padres have not made the playoffs since winning the division in 2006. Their best finish since then was second in 2010, when they missed the playoffs by two games to the eventual World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants. 

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