Minnesota Twins for Sale As Pohlad Family Hires Allen & Company

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

https://www.sportico.com/business/team-sales/2024/minnesota-twins-for-sale-pohlad-family-1234800592/
also:
Pohlad family will sell Twins after 40 years of ownership
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-sale-pohlad-family-mlb-calvin-griffith/601160089
and:
Game-Changer: Pohlad Family Announces They Will Explore Selling Twins
https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/game-changer-pohlad-family-announces-they-will-explore-selling-twins-r17203/

Because there are bigger/wealthier sports markets than the Twin Cities, my questions are: will they stay or will they move; and what sort of ownership structure will ultimately take control? Will some or another investment fund/equity capital firm will buy it, strip it of all assets, and leave the rest to bankruptcy court? There was a suggestion many years ago that the club be "contracted" (eliminated) as part of a move to make baseball "more efficient" by eliminating its small markets.

[bpj62]

1. Depends on the price

Whoever the buyer is they cannot "strip" the team down for parts and then walk away. MLB under Bud Selig attempted to do this in the early 2000s with the Twins and the Expos because MLB owned the Expos at that time.

The players association told MLB to go pound sand because they have a labor contract and they would sue and win. MLB backed down. Subsequently the Expos were allowed to move to DC and were sold to the Lerner Family.
Small market teams can succeed in baseball but they are unable to keep thier talent long term. A perfect example was the Royals run in 2014-2015. They won the series in 2015 but almost immediately started either trading or losing the talent to teams with bigger pockets. They have retooled and are currently battling the Yankees. The Twins won two world series on a combination of homegrown and free agent talent. They have some success in the 2000s as well.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

2. I hope so, but we're dealing with billionaires here.

I'll admit to not being much of a baseball fan anymore (I hate the rule changes, and I've come to like cricket better), but I grew up a Twins fan (Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, etc.), and I have vivid memories of Selig's contraction move and his becoming commissioner when owners weren't supposed to do that. That power-play also moved the Brewers from the American League to the National so his Brewers could have more (and better attended) games with "rivals" the Cubs (who Milwaukee hadn't played since the Braves moved to Atlanta). I trust the Lords and Masters of Baseball to honor agreements about as much as I trust the current SCOTUS to preserve our rights. I trust the Pohlads about as far as I can throw them, perhaps because I remember the Midwest Federal S&L scandal and their purchase and dismantling of the Hamm's brewery on the East Side for copper scrap.