White Sox proprietor Jerry Reinsdorf is open to promoting the membership and is in “energetic discussions” with a gaggle led by Dave Stewart, experiences Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic. It’s unclear how doable a sale is or how a lot progress the talks have made, however it will be a seismic shift for the franchise if it involves fruition.
Reinsdorf, now 88 years previous, is without doubt one of the extra controversial homeowners within the sport. He purchased the membership in 1981 for about $20MM and has since developed a repute for being on the meddlesome aspect, resulting in experiences of tumult from inside the group. Reinsdorf solely owns an estimated 19% stake within the membership, in response to Forbes, however is nonetheless the principal proprietor of the membership.
The membership has had some success throughout his tenure as proprietor, together with profitable the 2005 World Collection, however the Sox are at a really low ebb proper now. They didn’t make the playoffs from 2009 to 2019, ending beneath .500 throughout the vast majority of that stretch. A brand new core appeared to emerge and helped them make the postseason in 2020 and 2021, however that rapidly proved to be unsustainable. They dropped to .500 in 2022 and misplaced 101 video games final 12 months earlier than issues acquired even worse in 2024. They misplaced 121 video games this 12 months, setting a brand new file for losses within the fashionable period.
Amid that downward slide, loads of modifications have taken place. In August of 2023, president Ken Williams and common supervisor Rick Hahn have been fired after a few years with the membership. Nonetheless, that shakeup was adopted by the membership selling Chris Getz to common supervisor from inside, seemingly not endeavor an in depth seek for exterior candidates. Supervisor Pedro Grifol and a few coaches have been fired in August of 2024. Grady Sizemore took over as interim supervisor and it’s not but clear who would be the membership’s bench boss for 2025.
These modifications have been debatable merited, however because the Sox have been nearing their dishonorable place in historical past this 12 months, Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal put the franchise beneath the microscope in a prolonged piece for The Athletic final month. In it, numerous sources traced the membership’s misfortunes to Reinsdorf. His gradual embrace of analytics, his refusal to put money into facilities or participant payroll and his insular loyalty have been among the many numerous complaints cited within the piece.
Whereas lots of the membership’s followers have been clamoring for Reinsdorf to promote the membership, it’s doable their want is being granted in monkey-paw vogue, given who the client may very well be. Stewart is well-known within the baseball world for his taking part in profession and likewise his post-playing ventures as a coach, government, agent and stint as common supervisor of the Diamondbacks. Lately, he has been concerned with a gaggle that has been making an attempt to get an MLB franchise in Nashville, Tennessee. Stewart parted methods with Music Metropolis Baseball/the Nashville Stars however advised Paul Skrbina of the Nashville Tennessean in Might that he nonetheless had designs on getting a workforce to Nashville sometime. Per at the moment’s report from Ghiroli, he’s now a part of a gaggle referred to as Smoke34, a reference to his nickname and jersey quantity from his taking part in days. Ghiroli additionally mentions that Stewart and associate Lonnie Murray are attempting to convey a Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League workforce to Nashville.
Again in August of 2023, Greg Hinz of Crain’s Chicago Enterprise reported that the Sox have been exploring relocating inside Chicago however that transferring to Nashville was additionally into consideration. “Ever because the article got here out, I’ve been studying about I’ve been threatening to maneuver to Nashville,” Reinsdorf mentioned in response, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. “That article didn’t come from me. But when now we have six years left, we’ve acquired to determine what’s the longer term going to be? We’ll get to it, however I by no means threatened to maneuver out. We haven’t even begun to have discussions with the Sports activities Authority, which we’ll must do quickly.” In December, a number of sources (together with Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Solar-Instances) reported that Reinsdorf met with Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell.
There are nonetheless loads of unknowns with this story and the subsequent steps would require extra particulars to come back out. The talks between Reinsdorf and Stewart might in early/exploratory levels or they may very well be additional alongside. It’s additionally doable that Stewart’s group is only one of a number of that Reinsdorf has spoken with or will ultimately converse with. Speculatively talking, it’s doable that Reinsdorf is utilizing the specter of relocation to assist get a brand new stadium in-built Chicago. As coated beforehand at MLBTR, the Sox have mentioned plans a few new stadium in Chicago’s South Loop on a parcel of land often called “The 78.” It’s not unusual for homeowners of sports activities franchises to dangle the specter of relocation in an try and extract public cash for actual property investments. The Sox, who’ve a lease at Assured Price Area via 2029, have been reportedly seeking to get a billion {dollars} in public cash for his or her new stadium as of February.
Exploring a sale of the membership additionally doesn’t imply it should in the end come to go. Lately, groups just like the Nationals and Angels introduced plans to discover the potential for promoting, solely to later pull again from these declarations. This case seems to be considerably totally different, in that some discussions have already taken place. Although as talked about, it’s unclear how in depth these talks have been.
That is the second report this month of a membership contemplating a sale. The Twins, divisional rival of the White Sox, are additionally on the block. The Pohlad household introduced final week that they may discover the potential for a sale. Reinsdorf is the second-longest energetic proprietor in Main League Baseball, trailing solely the Steinbrenner household, who’ve owned the Yankees since 1973.