The San Diego Padres are up for sale. One thing team chairman John Seidler made very clear is: Whoever buys the club, it will remain in America’s Finest City. “The Padres aren’t moving from San Diego,” said Seidler on Monday at the team’s spring-training complex in Peoria, Arizona. W hile that is comforting to hear for a city that lost an NFL franchise, it would be nice to know if that was baked into the contract for anyone who purchases the team. Seidler didn’t get into specifics about that topic but brought up a compelling argument against relocation. “I can’t speak as to any details as to what may or may not be negotiated with an ultimate buyer,” Seidler said. “But if you look, a new buyer would be nuts to move the team out of San Diego, with the second-highest attendance in all of baseball last year. San Diego’s a great place for baseball. Baseball is the only major sport in San Diego right now. So, the opportunity is in San Diego, not elsewhere.” Most industry analysts feel the sale price will be in the range of $2.5 billion. Published reports have named Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob, businessman Dan Friedkin (who was born in San Diego) and Clearlake Capital co-founder Jose E. Feliciano as interested parties. Seidler says they’re not the only ones. “We’ve had tremendous interest,” Seidler said. “Some parties have been reported in the press, others have not. There are more parties interested than have been reported. Over the next few months, the process will come to a logical conclusion.” That suggests a sale could be finalized before the end of the 2026 season. The Seidler family will have a say in which bidder is given the right to buy the club, and they do have a set of preferred criteria in mind. “We would like to see what everybody would like to see: We would like to see somebody with ties to San Diego, a deep love of San Diego and a deep love of baseball, so they can continue doing the work that we do in the community and providing the product on the field that the fans enjoy,” says Seidler. John Seidler took over as control person after his late brother Peter Seidler passed away. When asked why he wanted to part with the franchise, John hesitated and replied: “I’m not going to answer that question today.” ...read more read less