… and it’s possible the South Siders could even leave town.
Josh opened discussion on this topic in BCB After Dark but I thought I’d weigh in with my thoughts on the report in The Athletic that White Sox managing general partner Jerry Reinsdorf is, after years of denying he was interested in selling the team, is now apparently doing just that:
Longtime majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf is open to selling the Chicago White Sox, sources briefed on the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Athletic. The 88-year-old Reinsdorf is in active discussions with a group led by former big leaguer Dave Stewart.
That would appear to be more than just “open” to selling, if he is having “active discussions” with a group interested in buying the team. And about that group:
Stewart’s group, Smoke34, previously tried to purchase Oakland’s stake in the Oakland Coliseum. He has been actively involved in trying to get an expansion baseball team to Nashville.
Nashville. Ah ha.
There had been reports as far back as last December that Reinsdorf was having “discussions” about moving the White Sox to Nashville. At the time, that was seen as a smokescreen of sorts in the White Sox’ attempt to get public financing for a new stadium to be built on “The 78,” a vacant plot of land south of downtown Chicago. (The number is a reference to the 77 neighborhoods of Chicago and that this would be the 78th.) Last month, the team had a baseball field sculpted into this empty land to show what the views might be from such a stadium.
Reinsdorf is said to be the longest-tenured owner in MLB, having had his group of investors buy the White Sox from Bill Veeck in 1981. That’s only technically true if you consider a single person being involved that long, because the Steinbrenner family has owned the Yankees since 1973, changing principal owners only because George Steinbrenner, who bought the Yankees 51 years ago, died in 2010.
Here’s a bit more about how Reinsdorf became that principal owner from Paul Sullivan in the Tribune:
Reinsdorf and several partners put up $19 million, with a minimum investment of $250,000 — a 1.32% stake. He was the majority shareholder in the team’s general partner, which is the controlling entity, and made all the decisions. Reinsdorf reportedly owned only 4-5% of the team when they bought it. He owns a 19% share now, according to Forbes.
The Reinsdorf group has led the White Sox to seven postseason appearances since 1981 and one World Series title, in 2005. But they currently sit as the owners of a team that set a modern era record for losses with 121 in the season just concluded, and little hope that they’ll improve any time soon. Their public perception is of an ownership group that has no idea what they’re doing. A perfect example of that is Reinsdorf, at last, firing longtime executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn in late 2023 and replacing them with the guy who was their assistant, Chris Getz, rather than bring in someone new to clean house.
This very much reminds me of how the Cubs were run in the last days of the Wrigley ownership — a management team that was running things the way they were 30 or 40 years earlier, refusing to modernize (this article in The Athletic from last month is a great summary of the Sox problems) and basically running the entire organization into the ground.
The White Sox lease at Guaranteed Rate Field runs through 2029, though I suppose if a new ownership group wanted to break it, they could probably make a deal with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the outfit that runs the ballpark. The ISFA isn’t getting much, if any, rent from the Sox because they have to hit certain attendance marks before they pay anything.
While I am (obviously) not a White Sox fan, I don’t dislike the team either. When they win it’s good for the city of Chicago, and I believe it’s a piece of civic pride for the city to have two MLB teams.
Back in 2020, I wrote this article about the history of several times when the White Sox almost left town. Could it happen again now? If the threat of moving the team to Nashville is an attempt to squeeze public money out of the city of Chicago or state of Illinois for a new stadium, I’d caution any such group about trying that. There doesn’t seem to be any interest in doing that, as the Chicago Bears are also finding out.
Sullivan’s article notes:
In 2013, Jerry Reinsdorf told the Sports Business Journal he suggested to his sons that they sell the Sox and keep the Bulls after he’s gone.
“I recommended it to the boys, but it’s up to them when the time comes,” Reinsdorf told ESPN.
Reinsdorf is now 88, seemingly in good health, but at his age he might consider now to be the time to sell the Sox rather than “after he’s gone.” These “active discussions” might wind up putting the White Sox with a new ownership group. With a former MLB player heading up that effort, you’d like to think they would want to produce a winner.
But as always, we await developments.