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Ishbia increasing minority stake in Sox


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  On 3/5/2025 at 6:40 PM, bmags said:

I think it was Greenberg's article which included hayes, as well. 

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You are correct: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6150455/2025/02/21/white-sox-twins-justin-ishbia-jerry-reinsdorf/

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It was during Ishbia’s pursuit of the Twins that the Reinsdorfs came to him and discussed increasing his share of the White Sox, according to a person briefed on the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly.

 

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  On 3/4/2025 at 9:49 PM, fathom said:

Not that I buy it, but he also mentioned Ishbia dropping out of the Twins race was less about him acquiring the Sox and more that maybe the Twins was a bad investment.

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What would make the Twins a bad investment?  And why would this only occur to Ishbia very late in the process of purchasing the team?

I know there was a comment earlier saying that Target Field and the area around the ballpark aren't exactly the best, but that's the first I have heard that there are problems with the ballpark and its location.  I admittedly have never been there, so others can confirm if their stadium situation is rather lackluster.  

Being an MLB owner is a very exclusive club - there are only 30 teams and it's not every year that a franchise goes up for sale.  I can think of a number of MLB teams that would be worse to own than the Minnesota Twins, who play in a mid-sized,  relatively vibrant market and aren't plagued by stadium issues.  I think their biggest problem with fan interest in recent years has been their owner (sounds familiar).  

I still think that Ishbia would rather own the Twins outright than have no pathway to ownership of the White Sox - even if that pathway is several years away.  

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  On 3/5/2025 at 10:29 PM, 77 Hitmen said:

What would make the Twins a bad investment?  And why would this only occur to Ishbia very late in the process of purchasing the team?

I know there was a comment earlier saying that Target Field and the area around the ballpark aren't exactly the best, but that's the first I have heard that there are problems with the ballpark and its location.  I admittedly have never been there, so others can confirm if their stadium situation is rather lackluster.  

Being an MLB owner is a very exclusive club - there are only 30 teams and it's not every year that a franchise goes up for sale.  I can think of a number of MLB teams that would be worse to own than the Minnesota Twins, who play in a mid-sized,  relatively vibrant market and aren't plagued by stadium issues.  I think their biggest problem with fan interest in recent years has been their owner (sounds familiar).  

I still think that Ishbia would rather own the Twins outright than have no pathway to ownership of the White Sox - even if that pathway is several years away.  

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The location is fine.

Downtown light rail public transit and that inter connected tunnel system between buildings.

The stadium is fine.

But won't require replacement for 15-20 years.

Secondary media market.

Decent loyal fan support but always in that 18-24 range attendance wise.

 

Why would you pick Twins at $1.5 billion over Sox under valued at $1.8???

 

Last sentence already invalidated as they did choose Sox investment knowing they'd have to put significantly more in for a new stadium.

Building a new stadium is a significant aspect of why billionaires enjoy these playthings/hobbies.

Edited by caulfield12
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  On 3/5/2025 at 11:18 PM, caulfield12 said:

The location is fine.

Downtown light rail public transit and that inter connected tunnel system between buildings.

The stadium is fine.

But won't require replacement for 15-20 years.

Secondary media market.

Decent loyal fan support but always in that 18-24 range attendance wise.

 

Why would you pick Twins at $1.5 billion over Sox under valued at $1.8???

 

Last sentence already invalidated as they did choose Sox investment knowing they'd have to put significantly more in for a new stadium.

Building a new stadium is a significant aspect of why billionaires enjoy these playthings/hobbies.

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Oh, I agree that there's no doubt why he'd choose the Sox over the Twins.  But I was responding to the following suggestion:  "Ishbia dropping out of the Twins race was less about him acquiring the Sox and more that maybe the Twins was a bad investment." 

If buying the Sox was not on the table for him, I was wondering why he would have decided that buying the Twins was a bad investment.  IMO, if there wasn't a pathway to ownership of the Sox presented to him, he wouldn't have suddenly dropped his Twins bid.

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  On 3/6/2025 at 12:12 AM, 77 Hitmen said:

Oh, I agree that there's no doubt why he'd choose the Sox over the Twins.  But I was responding to the following suggestion:  "Ishbia dropping out of the Twins race was less about him acquiring the Sox and more that maybe the Twins was a bad investment." 

If buying the Sox was not on the table for him, I was wondering why he would have decided that buying the Twins was a bad investment.  IMO, if there wasn't a pathway to ownership of the Sox presented to him, he wouldn't have suddenly dropped his Twins bid.

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Well, yeah...that all makes sense, is perfectly logical.

It won't take much to push JR over the edge after the Bulls have seemingly given up competing and now with the White Sox under the magnifying glass again for worst record in baseball history.

That's the only reason they supplemented the roster with all those veteran additions.  To stave off another national embarrassment.

 

Edited by caulfield12
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  On 3/5/2025 at 10:29 PM, 77 Hitmen said:

What would make the Twins a bad investment?  And why would this only occur to Ishbia very late in the process of purchasing the team?

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They have no actual local TV deal, since they're one of the teams Diamond pulled out of. That is a fairly recent development, so might have had some affect once he had a chance to dig into the books. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/twins-broadcasts-distributed-by-mlb-2025

Edited by soxfan18
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  On 3/6/2025 at 12:29 AM, soxfan18 said:

 

They have no actual local TV deal, since they're one of the teams Diamond pulled out of. That is a fairly recent development, so might have had some affect once he had a chance to dig into the books. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/twins-broadcasts-distributed-by-mlb-2025

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That's one of the reasons their payroll has been pretty much frozen since they beat the Yankees in the postseason.

Around $130 million...although they've recently "found" another $5 million or so.

 

$66 million of their payroll (roughly half) devoted to Correa, Buxton, Christian Vasquez (terrible last season) and Pablo Lopez.

Kyle Farmer (of all people) their fifth biggest salary at $6.25 million.  Carlos Santana and 4th/5th outfielder Manuel Margot next.

Really top heavy roster with same problems as White Sox used to have (too much money invested at the top and not enough money to fill out the rest of the roster cost-effectively, unless almost all pre-arbitration players).

(The often-injured Chris "The Sheriff" Paddack will make $7.5 million in 2025 in the final year of his contract, which is a fair salary for a back-end starting pitcher. In 2024, Paddack pitched to a 4.99 ERA in 88 1/3 innings before missing the second half of the season with a forearm strain.)

 

If Walker Jenkins becomes a superstar, they might be fine...though.

Edited by caulfield12
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  On 3/5/2025 at 11:18 PM, caulfield12 said:

The location is fine.

Downtown light rail public transit and that inter connected tunnel system between buildings.

The stadium is fine.

But won't require replacement for 15-20 years.

Secondary media market.

Decent loyal fan support but always in that 18-24 range attendance wise.

 

Why would you pick Twins at $1.5 billion over Sox under valued at $1.8???

 

Last sentence already invalidated as they did choose Sox investment knowing they'd have to put significantly more in for a new stadium.

Building a new stadium is a significant aspect of why billionaires enjoy these playthings/hobbies.

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Stadium sucks because of not enough room so they squished it together if you look at the LF seats. 

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  On 3/6/2025 at 2:05 AM, Heads22 said:

 

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So we're looking at a range of anywhere from 30-60% of the team...assuming JR and sons at 20-25%.

Maybe 10-15% that didn't sell but might be called upon for cash call investments into a new stadium project in the next 2-3 years...and hopefully there's news sooner rather than later on that front.

Because it will only increase the value of the JR shares to work oat the framework for a stadium deal and advantages collective bargain ing agreement before 2027...

Ishbia would surely want to control the design as it would be principally his money invested into the project.

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  On 3/6/2025 at 2:34 AM, ChiSoxFanMike said:

How do the percentages work? If Ishbia owns a higher percentage than Reinsdorf as a result of this, is he in control now? It’s kind of confusing.

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None of it matters. All of these percentages are still of shares that JR controls the voting power of. That's how the limited partnership is set up, and it's like that until either JR concedes power or dies. 

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  On 3/6/2025 at 3:00 AM, Buehrle>Wood said:

Say what? That there was a deadline? He did report that yeah

 

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I guess I’m saying that this Sean guy is using reporting of Greenberg and Hayes to grant his bullshit legitimacy. He may be right but I think he’s full of it.

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  On 3/6/2025 at 3:04 AM, bmags said:

I guess I’m saying that this Sean guy is using reporting of Greenberg and Hayes to grant his bullshit legitimacy. He may be right but I think he’s full of it.

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I’m assuming he knows some of the limited partners and that’s why he reported it this way.

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  On 3/6/2025 at 3:16 AM, WhiteSox2023 said:

Do we know if that dbag who is best buddies with Clevinger is out?  Maybe then Getz won’t keep signing Clevinger to deals until he retires.

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Pohafsky or something quite similar.

The two sons fought over father's autographed baseball collection when he died and it went to court...I remember it made the Chicagoland news.

 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/07/05/fight-over-autographed-baseballs-leaves-pogofsky-family-battered/

Pogofsky...could probably look up both sons online for clues.

Edited by caulfield12
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  On 3/5/2025 at 7:27 PM, Sox Pride 22 said:

It was during Ishbia’s pursuit of the Twins that the Reinsdorfs came to him and discussed increasing his share of the White Sox, according to a person briefed on the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly.

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Perhaps a tax accountant can explain the potential capital gains ramifications of a sale prior to death for JR.  For example, if Jerry maintains up to 49.9% of shares (a non-controlling share of the corporation) after a sale, wouldn't that minimize the potential  capital gains issue for him ? We know he doesn't own 100%.

Like a few others, I am wondering why this deal isn't being done now. Then there is this. Ishbias have a combined wealth that is insane...somewhere North of 10 Million dollars.  Justin purchased a minority share a few years ago. What is he waiting for since then...is it that he is waiting for the value of the franchise to continue to go down as the WSox continue to struggle in order to "buy low"?  If Reinsdorfs came to him, as the above post indicates, what is stopping Ishbia and his billions from getting this done now ? Also, why all the secrecy?  Ishbia wants to buy it and he has more than enough money. Finally, it seems like uncertainty injected by this saga is not helping the organization and is only confusing fans.

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