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Sources: Royals Owner Discussing Sale Of Team To Indians Exec

Glass would likely receive north of $1B for the Royals if he follows through on selling the teamGETTY IMAGES

Royals Owner David Glass is in "discussions about selling his MLB franchise to a group" led by K.C. entrepreneur and Indians Vice Chair John Sherman, according to sources cited by McDowell & Worthy of the K.C. STAR. Sources "described the talks as advanced," with one saying that a deal "could be finalized by the end of the year." League rules would require Sherman to "relinquish his minority ownership stake in the Indians." Glass is currently in his 20th season as owner and CEO of the Royals. He was appointed CEO "after the death of Ewing Kauffman, the Royals’ first owner," in '93. In April '00, the Glass family "acquired the Royals from Kauffman’s estate" for $96M. The Royals won the '15 World Series under Glass' watch, but this season have averaged 18,955 fans per game at Kauffman Stadium, ahead of only the Orioles and Rays in attendance among AL teams (K.C. STAR, 8/28). THE ATHLETIC's Rosenthal & Stark, who first broke the story, noted Glass had "not publicly disclosed any intention to sell the club" (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/27).

PRICE POINT: ESPN.com's Jeff Passan cited sources as saying that the Royals' sale price is "more than" $1B. However, the price of the Royals is "expected to fall short of the most recent sale" of an MLB team, when Bruce Sherman bought the Miami Marlins for $1.2B. A source said that the Royals sale "could happen around the same time the franchise locks into" a new TV deal with FS K.C. That deal "could pay the team" around $50M a year for a decade-plus and would "more than double" its current rights fee with the RSN (ESPN.com, 8/27). CBS Sports Radio's Damon Amendolara tweeted, "Glass paid $96M for the Royals in 2000. Less than two decades later he will sell for $1B. He just made a $904M profit in 19 years. So when MLB owners say they can’t afford to spend on players ... please consider this fact." Yahoo Sports' Mike Oz: "Save this for next time a baseball team is crying poor" (TWITTER.com, 8/27).

TEAM
PURCHASE PRICE
BUYER(S)
OTHER INVESTORS
SELLER
Marlins ('17)
$1.2B
Group led by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter
David Ott and Doug Kimmelman
Jeffrey Loria
Mariners ('16)
$661M
John Stanton
Nintendo and 16 other partners
Nintendo of America
Rangers ('13)
$593M
Ray Davis
Bob Simpson
Nolan Ryan
Padres ('12)
$800M
Group led by Peter O'Malley and Ron Fowler
Brian and Kevin O'Malley (Peter's sons); Peter and Tom Seidler (O'Malley's nephews)
and Phil Mickelson
John Moores
Dodgers ('12)
$2.15B
Guggenheim Baseball Management, led by Mark Walter, Magic Johnson and
Stan Kasten
Todd Boehly, Bobby Patton,
Peter Guber
Frank McCourt
Download the
MLB Team Sales Chart

ROYAL STANDARDS: In K.C., Sam Mellinger writes if Sherman's group is "successful in purchasing the Royals," it "must be seen as good news" locally. Glass "deserves credit for investing heavily in the Royals’ farm system and organizational infrastructure" after hiring GM Dayton Moore in '06, but the team has "always operated in a lower spending sphere than most of its rivals." The optimism in K.C. is "not about Glass being out, or based on any assumption of what Sherman’s spending might look like." It is "more about Glass not passing the team down to his son, and the assumption that an investment group headed by Sherman and deep with Kansas City connections will be committed to keeping the team" in town (K.C. STAR, 8/28). THE ATHLETIC's Rustin Dodd noted for a time, it "seemed like no owner could be more loathed, more detested, more criticized" than Glass for the "way they ran their team." Then it "all changed" when Moore was hired to run the club’s baseball operations department (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/27).

WHO IS SHERMAN? The STAR's McDowell & Worthy in a front-page piece note Sherman has "been a Royals season-ticket holder in the past and has called baseball a 'passion.'" His experience in Cleveland "perhaps offers a hint of how he might approach ownership" in K.C. Sherman is known as a "successful entrepreneur who started two energy companies." His first, LPG Services, "merged with Dynegy, a regional electric company." In '96, he "founded Inergy, a propane firm that merged with Crestwood Midstream Partners" in '13. Sherman has been involved in K.C. "civic and philanthropic efforts for years" (K.C. STAR, 8/28).

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