The legal dispute that has dogged the Padres for the past year—and it’s a little closer to a resolution this week. Although it is not yet over the finish line, it seems that the club has taken one step closer to a potential sale. Various details were provided by Dennis Lin of The Athletic, Eben Novy-Williams, Kurt Badenhausen and Scott Soshnick of Sportico, and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Interested readers are encouraged to read those sections in full to obtain all relevant information. The bottom line is that Sheel Seider, Peter Seider’s widow, dropped many of the allegations in her lawsuit against Peter’s brothers. Both sides of the case reached an agreement on most of the claims, except those related to reliable distribution and the need for accounting.
After Peter’s death in November 2023, his stake in the club was put into a trust. Eric Kutsenda, Peter’s business partner, was made interim team manager. Teams are usually owned by multiple people but MLB appoints one person to manage to represent the team in league matters. Peter’s brother John Seidler is reported to be appointed as the controlling person in December 2024. Peter’s other two brothers, Matt and Bob, remain involved in his faithfulness.
In January of 2025, Sheel filed a lawsuit against Matt and Bob, seeking to be appointed as the administrator of the franchise. The lawsuit stated that Peter wanted control of the franchise to eventually pass it on to his young children, while he currently directs the franchise. The case accused Peter’s brothers of various forms of controlling the club, including selling assets to themselves at below-market prices, and eventually selling them. Matt then filed a counter-argument, saying that Peter never named Sheel as trustee despite amending his trust numerous times and that much was done for his benefit.
MLB approved John as a manager in February of 2025. In November 2025, the Padres announced they would explore selling the club, with no signs of progress in the dispute. As mentioned, this week’s news seems to represent progress, but some obstacles remain.
Acee reports that the sale may not take place until the legal issues are fully resolved. That’s a situation with recent precedent in Major League Baseball. After the death of Orioles owner Peter Angelos, his surviving family members engaged in a similar battle for control, which included lawsuits. Those suits were dismissed in February of 2023. Later that year, it was reported that David Rubenstein was in talks to buy the team, which he eventually did.
Sportico identifies Jose E. Feliciano and Dan Friedkin as two people interested in buying the club. Feliciano’s investment firm Clearlake Capital was part of the BlueCo consortium that bought English Premier League club Chelsea in 2022 for an estimated $3 billion. Forbes estimates Feliciano’s net worth at $3.9 billion. Clearlake reportedly has approximately $90 billion in assets under management. Mark Walter, the Dodgers executive and chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, was also part of BlueCo.
Friedkin also owns a Premier League club, having bought Everton in 2024 for an undisclosed fee. He is also the owner of Serie A club Roma. Forbes estimates his net worth to be less than $9.9 billion. He was born in San Diego in 1965.
Joe Lacob is also identified as a person of interest in all three topics linked above. Lacob has been linked to various MLB clubs in the past, including the Athletics and Angels. He owns the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries. Forbes estimates his net worth at $2.3 billion.
Forbes lists the value of the franchise at $1.95 billion. Sportico comes in slightly higher at $2.3 billion. A report this week suggests that the Padres may want much more than that, as Acee reports that the team may value it in the $2.5 to $3 billion range. If they can get anywhere near that, it would be a record. The largest sale of an MLB club to date is the $2.4 billion paid by Steve Cohen to purchase the Mets.
It is possible that the sale would provide some certainty about the future of the club in several areas. The player payroll increased significantly in 2023, Cot’s baseball contracts put the Friars at $249MM that year, but he has been flat since then.
That seems to have played a role in some transactions. Juan SotoThe last year of the club’s control was traded to the Yankees, and young and cheap players returned in return. The brothers signed Nick Pivetta last year but took it back significantly, with Pivetta only getting $4MM in the first year of a four-year, $44MM deal. With his off year coming to a close, he has been in trade rumors this winter.
The decision maker for this transaction is president of baseball operations AJ Preller, who has been in charge of San Diego’s front office since 2014. There have been reported rifts between him and the new guys running the team. Despite the club’s success on the field, Preller will enter the final year of his contract and rumored extension talks have not led to a new deal, leaving him in the position of a lame duck in 2026.
Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images
