Would-Be Owners Continue to Call About the Padres

Negotiations quietly continued Thursday in the search for a new Padre owner, but while sources said one group has advanced further than others in the discussions, all options are being kept open.

Attorney Jerry Kapstein, negotiating the sale for Joan Kroc, received new inquiries at his La Jolla office from prospective buyers but would not reveal their identities.

Jerry Buss, principal owner of the Lakers, says he is interested in purchasing the Padres, but since he has yet to schedule a single meeting with Kapstein, some wonder how realistic his chances are.

“There are a lot of people who would be interested to see Buss try to jump into the bidding because it would come out just how much he’s worth,” said a former business associate of Buss. “There’s a lot of doubts whether he has that kind of money. He might be able to get enough people involved to come with that kind of money, but I don’t think there’s any way he has $100 million sitting around.”

Said Buss: “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on anything now because I don’t have a meeting scheduled.”

Kapstein and partner Bob Teaff also refused comment.

Of the 26 major league baseball franchises, there are just eight besides the Padres owned by a single person or family: the Dodgers, Angels, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals.

“I’d be very surprised if the Padre sale doesn’t come together very fast,” said Mannie Jackson, who heads a group that is trying to bring an NBA franchise to San Diego but is uninterested in the Padres. “You’re talking about a lot of visibility owning that team.”

John Lynch, chief executive of the Noble Broadcast Group that owns XTRA in San Diego, said that he very well could be interested in purchasing the franchise for the anticipated price of about $100 million, with one condition.

“We’d have to get the broadcast rights to go with it,” he said.

His group outbid the competition this year for the rights to broadcast the Padres but was nonetheless rejected in favor of KFMB.

“I’m going to explore it a little bit,” Lynch said. “But if we can’t get the broadcast rights to go with it, I don’t know what the point would be.”