Padres Are Up for Sale but Expected to Stay Put

The Padres have been put up for sale, owner Joan Kroc announced Tuesday, and sources said the baseball franchise could be sold in the next few weeks for more than $100 million.

There are several prospective buyers, said attorney Jerry Kapstein, who has been authorized by Kroc to conduct negotiations along with attorney Robert Teaff. But Kapstein assured the city that the franchise would not be moving regardless of who bought it.

“I can’t comment on who the parties are or where they are from,” Kapstein said, “but I am sure the Padres will remain in San Diego.”

Even if new ownership wanted to move the team, Assistant City Manager Jack McGrory said, the Padres’ lease with the city commits them to play baseball at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium until March 31, 2000, and the new owner “assumes the obligations of the club under this agreement.”

Kapstein refused to divulge when negotiations began or how many parties are involved but said: “There are several serious parties with which I have had discussions in buying the club, some as recently as today.”

When the Padres were put up for sale three years ago by Kroc, resulting in an ultimately aborted agreement to sell to Newport Beach businessman George Argyros for $50 million, the names of several prominent potential buyers surfaced:

* Marvin Davis of Beverly Hills, worth an estimated $1.7 billion.

* Donald Trump of New York, worth an estimated $1.7 billion.

* Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers, worth $250 million.

But, Kapstein said, “I have had absolutely no contact with any of those gentlemen,” including Argyros. “They are not in any way involved with the parties.”

Kapstein added: “We’re having on-going discussions, but I can’t comment on any specifics.”

There had been rumors since the end of the regular season two weeks ago that Kroc would put the team up for sale, but Tuesday’s announcement caught the front office by surprise. There are several pending personnel decisions that must be made by the end of the month, but Padre President Dick Freeman said he does not expect any interruptions.

“I plan on still running the ballclub,” Freeman said. “To the best of my knowledge, it will be business as usual.”

Kroc, worth $950 million according to the Forbes 500, issued a statement Tuesday to reveal her reasons for the sale.

“There comes a time in everyone’s life when you have to look at your priorities,” she said, “and my first priority is my family. So I intend to semi-retire from public life to maximize the quality time I have with them, to travel and to enjoy my personal time.

“I am tremendously proud of the great stretch run the ballclub made this season, and while we didn’t grab the pennant, this team is in marvelous shape for 1990 and beyond.”

Kapstein, who is married to Kroc’s daughter, Linda, said: “Linda and I support Joan’s decision 100%. We are very happy with her decision. We’re very fortunate to be a close-knit family, and we are looking forward to spending a lot more time with Joan, particularly in the summer.”

San Diego was awarded an expansion franchise on May 27, 1968, during the baseball meetings in Chicago, and the Padres began play in 1969. They failed to draw more than 650,000 in attendance in any of their first five seasons and were on the verge of moving to Washington, D.C., when Ray Kroc purchased the team for $12.5 million. The team has since drawn at least 1 million fans every year, with the exception of the strike-shortened 1981 season.

The Padres (89-73) drew 2,009,032 this past season, selling 2,286,795 tickets, and figure to have made a substantial amount of money. They are expected to turn perhaps their largest profit ever next season when they receive $15 million in national television revenue alone.

So why sell now?

“I don’t know, I really can’t comment on that,” Freeman said.

There had been no indication until the season’s end that Kroc was interested in selling. She allowed the Padres to spend $5.5 million to acquire free agent pitcher Bruce Hurst during the 1988 off-season and approved a trade that brought Jack Clark and his $2 million contract to the Padres last October.

Although not a baseball aficionado to the degree of her late husband, who died on Jan. 14, 1984, Padre officials said she never once turned down a trade or rejected a free agent because of economics.

“She has been an exemplary owner,” said Ron Roberts, a city councilman. “She’s a wonderful person. She’s going to be a hard act to follow.”

It’s uncertain whether an ownership change would affect the club’s negotiations with reliever Mark Davis, who is eligible to file for free agency at the end of the World Series. Negotiations still are in the preliminary stages, but Davis said he hopes Kroc’s decision does not prevent progress.

“This really surprises me, especially because of what happened the last six weeks (during the Padres’ end-of-season winning streak),” Davis said. “Obviously, she cares about the Padres just by the way she’s always reacted. We’ll see what course everything takes in the next few weeks, whether the sale affects the way things are run.

“Who knows what will happen? Maybe everything will be at a standstill until the new owner comes in.”

The last major-league baseball franchise to change ownership was the Seattle Mariners, sold by Argyros earlier this year for a reported $80 million.

If the Padres are sold for at least $100 million, as anticipated, it will be the most money ever paid for a baseball franchise.

Times Staff Writer Leonard Bernstein contributed to this report.