October 10, 2024

Read in Browser [[link removed]]

PRESENTED BY

The Pohlad family has owned the Twins for 40 years and presided over two World Series. Its tenure could end soon, as the franchise is for sale. We examine its influential ownership, possible factors for the sale, and what the team might be worth.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Twins Hit the Market: Pohlad Family Looks to End Four-Decade Ownership [[link removed]]

Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

The Twins are now for sale, a move that could bring an end to one of MLB’s longest-tenured ownership groups and one that will provide a new look into franchise values amid unprecedented local-media uncertainty.

The Pohlad family, which has owned the club for four decades, informed employees Thursday morning it has begun efforts to sell the franchise. The Twins have retained major investment bank Allen & Co. to lead those sale efforts. Family patriarch Carl Pohlad initially purchased the Twins in 1984 for about $44 million, and for many years was an influential owner, winning two World Series titles and serving as a close confidante of former commissioner Bud Selig.

Later, Pohlad’s son, Jim, and grandson, Joe, took over team leadership, and the elder Pohlad died in 2009. The family holds the fourth-longest ownership tenure in the league behind groups leading the Yankees, White Sox, and Phillies.

“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been a part of our family’s heart and soul,” the Pohlads said in a statement. “The team is woven into the fabric of our lives, and the Twins community has become an extension of our family. The staff, the players, and most importantly, you, the fans—everyone who makes up this unbelievable organization—is part of that. We’ve never taken that lightly.

“However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of the process, the time is right to make this decision public,” the family said.

Earlier this year, the Twins were estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.46 billion, 21st in MLB [[link removed]]. More recently, though, the Orioles were sold for $1.725 billion [[link removed]], and operate in a smaller media market. The well-regarded Target Field, the Twins’ home ballpark, and a team-friendly lease with a minimum of 15 years remaining will likely boost the appeal of the franchise to potential buyers.

Time of Change

The Pohlads’ decision to sell also arrives as the Twins this week elected to have MLB produce and distribute its locally broadcast games [[link removed]] during the 2025 season, veering away from a prior relationship with the bankrupt Diamond Sports Group. The Twins are just one of many clubs across the league dealing with significant turbulence surrounding their local media rights [[link removed]].

After reaching the playoffs three times between 2017 and 2023, the Twins faded down the stretch this year, and now compete in a strengthened American League Central that includes not only the division champion Guardians but also a resurgent Tigers [[link removed]] and Royals.

As the Twins’ ownership explores a sale of the franchise, there is still no guarantee a deal will take place. Ownership groups for the Nationals and Angels have made similar pronouncements in recent years and later elected to retain the clubs.

NBA GMs Want Apron Rules Changed. Commissioner Says They Help Parity [[link removed]]

Peter Casey-Imagn Images

​​NBA commissioner Adam Silver defended the increasingly controversial second apron [[link removed]] of the league’s salary cap, saying it has helped promote broader competitive balance.

Speaking Thursday at the Columbia University Sports Management Conference in New York, Silver said the measure—a key feature of a collective bargaining agreement struck last year with the National Basketball Players Association—has shown strong early results. The commissioner in particular cited an ongoing run in which the last six NBA seasons have yielded six different champions.

“The goal, in essence, is that every team, regardless of market size, has a roughly equal chance to compete, and to run a rational business,” Silver said. “It seems to be working so far.”

The second apron, in the NBA salary cap context, is a dollar limit that teams are penalized for exceeding. For the 2024–2025 season, it’s set at $188.9 million. Draft pick penalties and heavy restrictions on roster movement are levied on teams spending above that level. Already, the defending champion Celtics are grappling with the implications of the rules [[link removed]]. Team GMs recently voted the apron as the league rule that most needs to change [[link removed]]. Additionally, those rules have been increasingly seen as a potential impediment to dynasties. Silver said that might prove true, but added it could also promote a new kind of dynasty.

“For fans, the goal is certainly not to stop dynasties, but by drafting well, potentially by trading well, is there a different type of dynasty that’s created?” he posited.

In other matters addressed by the commissioner:

Franchise values: Silver said he sees no bubble in NBA team values that last year reached an average of $3.85 billion [[link removed]], calling the ongoing growth something of a “high-class problem” and something advancing the notion of pro teams as a new asset class. That said, Silver acknowledged the role of institutional investors, something the league has allowed for several years, and said that at some point, franchise values could outstrip the wealth of even the richest individuals. Media: Silver said the league’s new national media deals [[link removed]] are not a panacea to ongoing turbulence in the regional sports network business, highlighted by the ongoing bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group [[link removed]]. The new agreements with ESPN, NBC Sports, and Amazon, however, will help smooth out some market differences among clubs, he said. International: After a long period of turbulence with China, particularly in the wake of a pro–Hong Kong tweet posted in 2019 by now-76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, Silver said, “I think we will bring games back to China at some point. We had a well-known incident there pre-pandemic with a tweet and China’s government took us off the air for a period of time. We accepted that. We stood by our values.” Standing Up to Hate

Silver and the NBA, meanwhile, are part of a new anti-hate advocacy effort led by Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL’s Patriots. The Kraft-led Foundation to Combat Antisemitism is starting a new campaign entitled “Timeout Against Hate,” which will seek to raise awareness of hate levied against a wide variety of groups and ethnicities.

Debuting tonight on Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football, “Timeout Against Hate” will involve every major U.S. pro sports league, and features many major sports figures including Billie Jean King, Shaquille O’Neal, Jim Harbaugh, and Joe Torre, among many others.

Representing a significant expansion of Kraft’s existing work in this area over the past five years, the campaign seeks to lean in to sports’ role as one of the last great unifiers in society.

“It’s important to understand that even if the hate isn’t directed at you or the group that you’re a member of, it’s corrosive to all of society and really the underpinning of our democracy,” Silver said earlier Thursday on CNBC.

SPONSORED BY COLLECTORS

Get $25 Off Your First PSA Submission

Grade with the industry standard. PSA [[link removed]] is the leader when it comes to authenticating, grading, and preserving your most valuable sports and TCG cards. Today, backed by leading expertise and the industry’s best customer guarantee, more collectibles are submitted to PSA than any other grading service.

New to grading? For a limited time only, Front Office Sports readers will get up to $25 off [[link removed]] their first online grading order at psacard.com [[link removed]] or the PSA mobile app. Use code FOS25 at checkout [[link removed]].

Hurricane Milton: Rays Assessing Damage, Lightning Opener Postponed

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Sports teams in the Tampa Bay area continue to deal with the impact of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, but is now mostly in the Atlantic Ocean.

On Thursday afternoon, the NHL announced the Lightning-Hurricanes game scheduled for Saturday in Florida at Amalie Arena had been postponed amid recovery efforts, with a makeup date to be announced as soon as it can be confirmed. The Lightning traveled to Carolina on Tuesday in preparation for their season opener against the Hurricanes on Friday night.

The Rays released a statement saying they would assess the true condition of Tropicana Field over the coming days and weeks after the ballpark’s roof was mostly torn off during the storm [[link removed]]. No one was hurt by the damage sustained to the venue.

The Buccaneers’ home venue, Raymond James Stadium, and practice facility appear to have sustained only cosmetic damage [[link removed]] after the field flooded. The Bucs traveled to New Orleans on Tuesday [[link removed]], ahead of Sunday’s game against the Saints. “We’re not even just playing for just football now,” receiver Mike Evans said [[link removed]] Wednesday. “We’re trying to play for something a little bit bigger.”

Previously, after Hurricane Helene also hit the Tampa Bay area in late September, the owners of the Lightning donated $2 million to relief efforts [[link removed]] and the Buccaneers $1 million.

Rafael Nadal to Retire: His Impact on Tennis, Endorsement Legacy [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The second member of tennis’s iconic Big Three is hanging it up.

Rafael Nadal announced Thursday through a clip posted on social media [[link removed]] that he will retire from professional tennis following the Davis Cup Finals in November. He will finish his 23-year career with 22 Grand Slam titles, the second most in men’s tennis history behind Novak Djokovic and ahead of Roger Federer, who retired in 2022. He also sits between the two in all-time career earnings at $134.95 million.

“I think it’s an appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined,” Nadal said in Spanish.

The announcement from Nadal, 38, did not come as a major surprise as over the last two years, the Spaniard has struggled to stay on the court. In 2024, he missed three of the four Grand Slam tournaments due to injury—and was ousted in the first round at Roland-Garros, where he won a record 14 titles and has a statue built [[link removed]] outside the stadium.

“The reality is it has been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations,” Nadal said.

Lasting Legacy

For all of Nadal’s star power and earnings on the court, he also created a legacy off it.

Nadal has earned an estimated $425 million in earnings from endorsements and appearances [[link removed]]. His most iconic endorsement deal is with Nike, with whom he signed when he was just 13. In 2013, the Swoosh cemented Nadal’s status as a top endorser of the brand by unveiling his famous raging bull logo. Nadal, who spent 209 weeks at world No. 1, reportedly earned as much as $10 million a year from Nike during his prime.

Other endorsements he’s secured over the years include Babolat, Kita, and Richard Mille.

Nadal is also the most accomplished Spanish tennis player in history. Rising star Carlos Alcaraz, currently world No. 2, credited Nadal for his decision to go pro.

“It is a really difficult thing, really difficult news for everybody, and even tougher for me. [Nadal] has been my idol since I start playing tennis. I look up to him. Proudly, thanks to him, I really wanted to become [a] professional tennis player,” Alcaraz told reporters in Shanghai [[link removed]] on Thursday.

LOUD AND CLEAR Pushing Ahead

Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

“We stay focused still, to be able to be in the ground, start construction sometime in 2025.”

—Bears president Kevin Warren, on the team’s proposed new stadium [[link removed]] along Chicago’s lakefront during a press conference in London on Tuesday, ahead of Sunday’s game against the Jaguars. His statements come despite continuous pushback from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker [[link removed]] on whether he’d approve public funding for the proposed $4.7 billion domed stadium, which would be positioned just south of the Bears’ current home, Soldier Field.

The Bears are hoping around half of the cost will come from public funding, but Pritzker has called this proposal a “nonstarter.” [[link removed]]

While a Chicago-based stadium remains the priority for Warren, he has not closed the door on building in Arlington Heights, a Chicagoland suburb. The Bears purchased more than 300 acres of land in the area [[link removed]] in February 2023.

“We’ve stayed close with the individuals in the City of Chicago. We’ve stayed close with the individuals in Arlington Heights. We’re the largest landowner there. We’ve stayed close to individuals in the governor’s office,” Warren said.

STATUS REPORT One Up, Two Down, One Push

Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Vince Carter ⬆ The Basketball Hall of Famer is expanding his duties with TNT Sports this NBA season, adding a studio analyst role on Tuesday nights. Carter has previously called some NBA games on TNT as a guest analyst.

777 Partners ⬇ The Miami-based investment firm with a multiclub soccer portfolio has put all of its sports assets up for sale [[link removed]] after collapsing into bankruptcy, according to the Liverpool Echo. In June, a deal for 777 to take over Premier League club Everton fell through after months of turmoil [[link removed]]. The firm owns stakes in seven clubs internationally.

NASCAR ⬇ 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a preliminary injunction in their antitrust case against the sanctioning body [[link removed]]. The pair wants to continue racing in 2025 as chartered teams, despite not yet signing NASCAR’s charter agreement.

Peacock ⬆⬇ The streaming service will have more than 50 exclusive Big Ten men’s basketball game broadcasts this season, up from the roughly 30 it had last year. That’s great news for the platform’s owner, NBCUniversal, but potentially frustrating for fans who aren’t subscribers.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS EVENTS

The Rise of Women’s Athletics

Women’s sports are breaking attendance and viewership records, and there is no sign of slowing down.

Join us [[link removed]] Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. ET for Future of Sports: Women’s Sports as we discuss the rise of women’s sports, the companies investing in them, how female athletes can capitalize on their own brand, media-rights opportunities, and more.

This four-part virtual event will unpack how teams, brands, leagues, and properties are shaping the future of women’s sports, fostering innovation, and championing a new era of inclusivity and excellence.

Register now [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters The Yankees’ payroll, close to $310 million, is nearly as much as the combined payrolls of the Royals, Guardians, and Tigers [[link removed]] ($327.8 million)—the three other teams they’re competing against for the AL title. ESPN has hired 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton [[link removed]] to be a regular guest on First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith. He will make his debut Friday. Front Office Sports editor-in-chief Dan Roberts spoke to several college administrators, including Rachel Baker, the GM of Duke’s men’s basketball team, about the current landscape of NIL (name, image, and likeness). Watch it here [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Cam Newton Joins ‘First Take,’ Where His Opinions Should Fit Right in [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]ESPN has hired the 2015 NFL MVP as a contributor to “First Take.” U.S. Soccer, Flush With Cash, Lays Off Dozens [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The nonprofit federation is expecting nine figures in revenue this fiscal year. Nike Has Lost Some Mojo. But Not Its Market Share [[link removed]]by Lisa Scherzer [[link removed]]Nike is in recovery mode but still enjoys a dominant slice of the market. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here [[link removed]].

Update your preferences [link removed] / Unsubscribe [link removed]

Copyright © 2024 Front Office Sports. All rights reserved.

460 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor, New York NY, 10016