Padres Exploring Potential Sale from Seidler Family, Projected Value for MLB Franchise

Amid the ongoing legal dispute over control of the franchise in the wake of Peter Seidler's death in 2023, the Seidler family is open to the idea of selling the franchise.

The family announced in a release on Thursday that they were exploring "strategic options," including a potential sale of the Padres.

Forbes has the Padres ranked as the 17th-most valuable franchise in MLB at $1.95 billion, with $432 million in revenue and a $32 million operating income.

Peter Seidler was part of a group that purchased the Padres from John Moores for $800 million in 2012. He took over as chairman in 2020 after Ron Fowler, who was part of the original purchase of the franchise, stepped down and sold a majority stake of the team to Seidler.

The Padres announced in November 2023 that Seidler died at the age of 63. An official cause of death was not revealed, but he had undergone a medical procedure two months earlier.

In a December 2024 statement to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres said that John Seidler, Peter's brother, would take over control of the organization pending approval from MLB.

The following month, Sheel Seidler, Peter's widow, filed a lawsuit against her brothers-in-law Matthew and Robert to prevent John from being able to run the Padres.

Sheel's lawsuit sought to have the court void any actions that would appoint someone other than her as the team's control person. John was formally approved by MLB as San Diego's control person in February.

Matt Seidler filed a 25-page legal response to Sheel's lawsuit in which he stated that Peter "elected to protect the trust's remainder beneficiaries (their children) by limiting distributions of trust principal to Sheel."

The Athletic's Dennis Lin noted in March that a motion filed on behalf of Seidler Kutsenda Management Company sought to have some of the allegations in Sheel's original lawsuit decided by an arbitrator, but neither the Padres nor Sheel's claim that she should be the control person were included in the motion.

As the legal situation continued throughout the 2025 season, the Padres' on-field product remained strong. They went 90-72 and made the playoffs for the fourth time in six seasons, losing in the wild card round to the Chicago Cubs.