The Minnesota Twins are in the auction.
According to Sportico, the American League Central division team has hired investment bank Allen & Company to explore the sale of the franchise.
The Pohlad family, owner of the team, informed their employees this morning.
In a statement, the team said: “After months of careful consideration, our family made the decision this summer to explore the sale of the Twins.”
“As we enter the next phase of this process, it is the right time to make this decision public.”
The Minnesota Twins are now for sale by the family that has owned them for four decades.
The Pohlad family has owned the Twins for four decades, currently the fourth-longest tenure of any ownership group behind the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies.
According to Sportico’s most recent valuations, the Twins are the 19th most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball at $1.7 billion.
Carl Pohlad, a financier, bought the Twins for $44 million in 1984 and was the richest owner in baseball at the time of his death in 2009.
His three children inherited the team, with his son Jim Pohlad being the majority owner.
There have only been five controlling stake sales of MLB teams in the last decade: John Stanton’s purchase of the Seattle Mariners in 2016, Bruce Sherman’s purchase of the Florida Marlins in 2017, of the Kansas City Royals by John Sherman in 2019, Steve Cohen’s purchase of the New York Mets in 2020, and David Rubenstein’s purchase of the Baltimore Orioles in 2023.
In 2022, the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels hired banks to explore selling their teams. Angels owner Arte Moreno publicly announced that he took the team off the market in January 2023. but admitted that he is open to offers.
The Pohlads have owned the team since the 1980s, with Jim Pohlad currently the controlling owner.
The Twins have been in Minnesota for more than six decades since moving from Washington, DC.
The Twins have been in Minnesota since 1961 after the first incarnation of the Washington Senators moved to the Gopher State.
Minnesota won World Series titles in 1987 and 1991, both within the first decade of Pohlad’s ownership, but then failed to reach the playoffs until 2002.
Since 2000, the team has won the American League Central division nine times, but only reached the American League Championship Series once, losing to the eventual World Series champion Angels in 2002.
Minnesota’s payroll has been in the bottom half of the league for the past 12 seasons.