Padres Mailbag

Irwin Kishner, co-chair of Herrick's Sports Law Group and co-chair of Herrick's Corporate Department, was quoted in The Athletic in its mailbag Q&A discussing the sale of the San Diego Padres and the potential for new owners to move the team out of San Diego. 

“This is a perennial issue with any professional sports teams that want to play in state-of-the-art facilities, and if they don’t get a good deal or the deal they want or a new stadium, there’s always the potential threat of relocation,” Irwin said. “It’s less likely when it’s a bigger market like San Diego. It’s very unusual when it’s a really big market."

“Nevertheless, you’ve seen even in Chicago what’s going on there; there’s a fight as to where the Bears are going to play. And I’m only using that as an analogy. Soldier Field (being) an older facility, the Bears want to get a great new stadium, and they’re talking about going to Indiana, and they’ve talked about going to different other places, all based upon how much of a more favorable deal that they can achieve.” The article further notes that given the condition of Petco Park, it is hard to envision that at leaset 75 percent of MLB owners will approve a move out of San Diego. 

Read the full article in The Athletic here. Access may require a subscription.