The O'Malley family is "believed to be the sole group remaining in negotiations" to purchase the Padres from team Chair John Moores, according to sources cited by Scott Miller of CBSSPORTS.com. Reports indicate that Liquid Investments Chair & CEO Ron Fowler "also will play a much more prominent role in the new ownership group than previously known." Fowler, a limited partner in the Padres "under exiled would-be owner Jeff Moorad, has ascended to manage that limited partnership as Moores worked on his exit strategy." Fowler is "expected to be the point man of a new ownership group." Fowler's Liquid Investments "owns Mesa Distributing, one of the country's largest wholesale beer distributorships." He previously served as '03 San Diego Super Bowl Task Force Chair, San Diego Int'l Sports Council President and U.S. Olympic Training Center Foundation Treasurer. He has "given millions to San Diego State University athletics, and currently the University of San Diego is building a new baseball stadium that will open in the spring and be named for Fowler, who donated millions to that project, too." Fowler also was "heavily involved with construction of Petco Park." Because both the O'Malley family and Fowler "have been involved in an ownership capacity with major league baseball, unlike as was the case with Moorad, the sale is expected to be approved without any problems." The next owners' quarterly meetings "are scheduled for August" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/25).
