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Revealed: Why Pohlads Cancelled MN Twins Sale + Details on New Investors
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- Revealed: Why Pohlads Cancelled MN Twins Sale + Details on New Investors
Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Twins are no longer for sale, after the Pohlad family announced Wednesday that they were pulling the 64-year-old Major League Baseball franchise off the market, while simultaneously announcing two new unknown minority investors who are purchasing a stake in the team, pending MLB approval.
All we got when the news broke this morning was a bunch of word salad about how this is a turning point in the organization's history. They did not name the new minority partners or what their specific purpose within the ownership dynamic is, nor did it state any sort of direction for the Twins' baseball future, either in the short or long-term.
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Thankfully, Phil Miller (Star Tribune) was able to get Joe Pohlad on the record for a quick question/answer interview that shed a little bit more light on the ownership's thinking.
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Pohlads reveal SOME details behind new Minnesota Twins investor group
According to what Joe told Miller, the new investor groups — one of which was formed locally, the other out East — will remain anonymous for at least a couple more weeks. It doesn't sound like we'll ever find out how much of the team they own or what they paid for it either.
Pohlad declined to reveal the identity of his new partners — in both cases, they are groups of investors, not a single buyer — beyond saying that one is made up of Minnesotans, the other a family based on the East Coast. He also did not disclose what percentage of the franchise those partnership groups will own, nor how much they paid for their shares of a team whose estimated worth has been valued at $1.7 billion or more.
But the Pohlads will retain a controlling interest in the team, he confirmed. The transaction does not include a path toward the new partners expanding their stakes or becoming the controlling owners…Each partnership group will have a seat on the team's board of directors, so their "input, fresh ideas and long-term vision," Pohlad said, will be heard there.
From a straight business standpoint, adding minority investors should immediately raise the valuation of the Minnesota Twins. So let's start with that. We know the Pohlads believe their latest valuations are low. In theory, this move immediately moves that needle in the correct direction.
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New investors helping to pay down Minnesota Twins debt
On top of that, Phil Miller's interview with Pohlad revealed that the money coming in will, in part, be used to pay down the reported $400+ million the organization is currently holding in debts.
Previous reports out of The Athletic claim that the Twins' colossal-size debt was racked up by a combination of the shortened 2020 COVID season, baseball operations, the end of their TV partnership with Bally Sports North. Joe Pohlad added "investments in the fan experience" to that list, while talking to the Star Tribune.
Pohlad acknowledged that the team has accumulated significant debt since the summer of 2020…That red ink totals as much as $400 million, according to a report published by The Athletic, through baseball operations, the expiration of their $54 million-a-year TV deal with Diamond Sports Group and "investments in the fan experience" at Target Field, Pohlad said.
"As far as I'm aware, that debt was not a hindrance in this process," Pohlad said. "But with this transaction, we're going to be paying that debt down."
Related: MN Twins Nearly Land Top Spot in Prospect Rankings
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In a perfect world, it is logical to assume that these new minority investors will help the MN Twins push their player payroll back up, after the Pohlads slashed it by $30 million two years ago.
Unfortunately, we do not know that to be the case. Certainly, we cannot assume the Pohlads will spend more money just because of this. Nothing they have done over their 40+ years of control lend us to make such assumptions.
Joe Pohlad won't reveal how new ownership structure will impact MN Twins' player budget
If that is their plan, they need to verbalize it. If this shift in ownership structure really is as groundbreaking as Joe Pohlad wants us to believe, and about more than just paying down organizational debt, then why wouldn't they reveal more details behind their plan going forward?
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Minnesota Twins fans need optimism, and a sense that brighter days are ahead. Instead (of course), when pressed by Phil on whether or not the payroll budget has increased, Joe refused to answer the question.
So will the payroll rise next year? Those are discussions that will take place with team President Derek Falvey and General Manager Jeremy Zoll once the current season ends, as usual, Pohlad said. But "we'll have a new process by then with our new limited partners involved," he added.
Not to mention, a much smaller debt load.
Related: MN Twins Ready to Move on From Former 1st Round Pick?
But that's not what happened with today's announcement. Even though the Pohlads knew pulling the Twins off the market would upset fans — something Joe admitted to Miller — they went ahead and did it anyway, without any plan to blunt the immediate blow.
Had they followed up their rug-pulling news with a commitment to spend more money during this new era of Pohlad ownership, then at least the portion of the fanbase that still holds some trust, would've treated Wednesday's announcement with much less hostility hostility.
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That wouldn't be the Pohlad way, however.
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