An MLB franchise is hitting the open market.
The Pohlad family will explore selling the Minnesota Twins after 40 years of ownership, Twins executive chair Joe Pohlad announced in a statement Thursday.
Pohlad said the family made the decision to explore a sale this past summer.
“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul,” Pohlad's statement read. “This team is woven into the fabric of our lives, and the Twins community has become an extension of our family. The staff, the players, and most importantly, you, the fans -- everyone who makes up this unbelievable organization -- is part of that. We’ve never taken lightly the privilege of being stewards of this franchise.
“However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.”
The Pohlads are among the longest-standing owners in all of baseball. Carl Pohlad, Joe's grandfather, purchased the club from the Griffith family for $44 million in 1984. Only the Steinbrenner family (New York Yankees) and Jerry Reinsdorf (Chicago White Sox) have been owners of their respective franchises for longer, according to MLB.com.
The Twins have captured two World Series titles (1987, 1991) across 12 playoff appearances during the Pohlads' ownership run. But they haven't reached the ALCS since 2002, with their last World Series trip coming in 1991.
MLB
Minnesota just last year won its first playoff series since 2002 following an 87-75 campaign. After the successful season, though, the team faced a loss in local television revenue due to the bankruptcy of cable network Bally Sports. Pohlad then ordered a spending cut that amounted to a nearly $30 million salary decrease -- something that rankled fans who have long been frustrated with the family for its conservative approach to player spending. The Twins went 82-80 this season, missing the playoffs after a late-season collapse.
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Forbes valued the Twins at $1.4 billion ahead of the 2024 season. That valuation ranked 21st among 30 MLB clubs.
The most recent sale of an MLB team saw David Rubenstein purchase the Baltimore Orioles from the Angelos family for $1.725 billion in March.
“We truly respect and cherish what the Twins mean to Minneapolis, St. Paul, the great state of Minnesota, and this entire region,” Joe Pohlad added in his statement. “Our goal is to be as informative as possible with the team, staff, and you, the fans. You deserve that, because in so many ways, this team doesn’t belong to any one family – it belongs to all of you. It’s our objective to find an ownership group who all of us can be proud of and who will take care of the Minnesota Twins.”
“After four decades of commitment, passion, and countless memories, we are looking toward the future with care and intention -- for our family, the Twins organization, and this community we love so much."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
