Interested readers are encouraged to read these pieces in full to get all the relevant details. The main conclusion is that Sheel Seider, widow of Peter Seider, has dropped many of the claims in her lawsuit against Peter’s brothers. The two sides in the lawsuit have reached an agreement on many of the claims, with the exception of those related to trust distributions and accounting demands.
After Peter died in November 2023, his stake in the team was placed into a trust. Eric Kutsenda, a business partner of Peter, was appointed controller of the club on an interim basis. Teams are often owned by many people, but MLB appoints one person as a control person who represents the team in league affairs. Peter’s brother John Seidler will reportedly be appointed controller in December 2024. Two of Peter’s other brothers, Matt and Bob, remained involved in his trust.
In January 2025, Sheel filed suit against Matt and Bob, seeking to be named controller of the franchise. The lawsuit alleged that Peter wanted control of the franchise to eventually be passed on to his young children, with her controlling the franchise in the meantime. The lawsuit accused Peter’s brothers of several types of crimes to take control of the club, including selling assets for themselves at below-market prices, and ultimately selling them off. Matt then filed a response with a counter story, saying that Peter had never listed Sheel as a trustee, despite changing his trust several times, and that many transactions had been made in her favor.
MLB approved John as a control subject in February 2025. In November 2025, the Padres announced they would explore a sale of the club, despite showing no signs of progress on the dispute. As mentioned, this week’s news appears to represent progress, but some hurdles remain.
Acee reports that the sale will likely only take place after 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 waged a similar battle for control, which also involved lawsuits. Those lawsuits were dropped in February 2023. Later that year it was reported that David Rubenstein was in talks to buy the club, which he ultimately did.
Sportico identifies Jose E. Feliciano and Dan Friedkin as two people interested in purchasing the club. Feliciano’s investment firm Clearlake Capital was part of the BlueCo consortium that bought English Premier League club Chelsea in 2022 for approximately $3 billion in USD. Forbes estimates Feliciano’s net worth at $3.9 billion. Clearlake reportedly has about $90 billion under management. Mark Walter, Dodgers controller and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, was also part of BlueCo.
Friedkin also owns a Premier League club, having bought Everton for an undisclosed price in 2024. He also owns Serie A club Roma. Forbes estimates his net worth at just under $9.9 billion. He was born in San Diego in 1965.
Joe Lacob is also identified as having an interest in all three of the articles linked above. Lacob has been associated with several MLB clubs in the past, including the Athletics and the 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 calculates the value of the franchise at $1.95 billion. Sportico comes in slightly higher at $2.3 billion. This week’s reporting suggests the Padres will likely seek much more than that, with Acee reporting the team likely values itself between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. If they can get even close to that, that would be a record. The largest sale of an MLB club to date is the $2.4 billion that Steve Cohen paid to buy the Mets.
It is possible that a sale could provide more certainty about the future of the club in a number of areas. Player salaries peaked in 2023, with Cot’s Baseball Contracts putting the Friars at $249 million that year, but at a lower level since then.
That apparently played a role in some transactions. Juan SotoHis final year of control was traded to the Yankees, bringing in younger and cheaper players. The brothers signed Nick Pivetta last year but has delayed it significantly, with Pivetta getting just $4 million in the first year of a four-year, $44 million deal. With the cheapest year behind him, he has been embroiled in trade rumors this winter.
The person making the decisions on these trades is president of baseball operations AJ Preller, who has led San Diego’s front office since 2014. Some tension has been reported between him and the new boys running the team. Despite the club being moderately successful on the field, Preller is entering the final year of his contract and rumors of extension talks have not resulted in a new contract, leaving him in lame duck status in 2026.
Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images
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