Sports business expert predicts quick, lucrative sale of Twins
Irwin Kishner, co-chair of Herrick's Sports Law Group, was quoted in Axios Twin Cities in an article discussing the recent announcement regarding the exploration of a sale of the Minnesota Twins.
"There's 30 MLB franchises and there's a lot more demand than there is supply," said Irwin. "That's got to drive the price up. My strong guess is yes (they will hit the $1.5 billion estimate), and my strong guess is they probably go a little bit north of that," he added.
The article notes that Minnesota only has five billionaires, but that doesn't mean a local buyer won't emerge. Kishner noted that "modern pro franchise owners are often made up of a group of investors, and MLB allows teams to sell as much as 30% of their equity to private equity firms." In other words, a buyer does not need to have $1.5 billion in cash, or anywhere near that amount. Kishner further elaborated that he thinks that they are trying to sell the team before the start of next season, which begins in late March. "I suspect that when the announcement was made a book (with the offering) was already put together, and it probably was already circulating, and that's probably why it was announced."
Read the full article in Axios Twin Cities here. Access may require a subscription.