After 40 years and three generations of ownership, the Pohlad family announced on Thursday that they are considering selling the Minnesota Twins.
The family made this decision during the summer and has hired Allen & Company, an investment bank based in New York, to help with the sale process.
“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul,” said Joe Pohlad, the third-generation owner, in a statement.
“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.”
Selling professional sports teams can take a long time, sometimes months or even years, as seen with the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Pohlads stated they are not in a hurry: “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.”
Under the leadership of the late Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, the Twins won World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. Since 2000, the Twins have won the American League Central Division nine times and made it to the playoffs once as a wild card.
Manager Rocco Baldelli has led the team to three division titles in six years.
The team has also experienced many tough seasons. They finally ended an 18-game postseason losing streak, a record for North American professional sports, last year by sweeping Toronto in the Wild Card Series. That was their first series win since 2002.
However, falling short in the postseason with talented teams has caused frustration among fans. Attendance at Target Field, which opened in 2010 and received much praise, has been declining.
After a promising 2023 season that felt like a breakthrough, the Twins, like many major league teams, found themselves affected by bankruptcy proceedings involving Diamond Sports Group, which held their local television rights.
The big drop in revenue this year led to a budget cut for the team, with the 2024 payroll expected to be nearly $30 million less than in 2023.
This decision upset some fans who have been frustrated with the family’s cautious approach to spending on players. This skepticism has been around for decades, dating back to when family patriarch Carl Pohlad tried to sell the team several times.
When there was no progress on getting a new stadium, he even suggested the Twins should be contracted in 2001, but a local judge blocked that plan.
This season, the Twins finished with an 82-80 record and missed the playoffs after a late-season slump, which added to the disappointment.
“Everybody owns this a little bit, and I played a role in that,” Joe Pohlad said in an interview with reporters last month. “We were at an all-time high last year, right? Fans were all in.
Players were all in. We were headed down a great direction, and I had to make a very difficult business decision, but that’s just the reality of my world. I have a business to run, and it comes with tough decisions.”
The Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961 after the owner of the Washington Senators, Calvin Griffith, relocated the team. The franchise has been owned by only two families for more than 100 years, starting with the Griffith family before the 1920 season.
The Senators won the World Series in 1924. Carl Pohlad, who made his wealth in banking, bought the Twins in 1984 for $44 million. He passed away in 2009.
The only major league teams owned by the same families longer than the Twins are the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox. One of his three sons, Jim Pohlad, became the chairman after him. Jim Pohlad’s nephew, Joe Pohlad, took over two years ago.
