Dan Hayes | The Athletic

The cash infusion will reduce the Twins’ nearly $500 million debt.

The Minnesota Twins are nearing the close of a partial sale that will clean up the club’s finances in what was described as a “significant” manner and could set the stage for a more lucrative deal in the future.

Selling more than 20 percent of the franchise to three minority partnership groups at a $1.75 billion valuation, the Pohlad family is expected to announce this week they’ve finalized a transaction that helps a club $500 million in debt return to a sound financial footing while also requiring the addition of three seats to the team’s ownership advisory board, league sources told The Athletic.

First announced in August, the deal leaves the Pohlad family in control of the club as planned and doesn’t include a path to power for any of the limited partnership investors. It’s also believed that Tom Pohlad, the older brother of the team’s executive chair Joe Pohlad, will take on an expanded role in the ownership group.

Originally stated as a sale to two limited partnerships, repeated delays in the process are due to additional, smaller ownership groups emerging and purchasing shares of the franchise, add-ons that required MLB’s approval. There was enough interest from those limited partnerships to form a third minority ownership group, said multiple people with knowledge of the process.

“It’s a big series of checks,” said one source with knowledge of the transaction. “Once it was out that we were doing a minority sale, a number of people stepped forward. Some of them have joined the party. If anything, it’s all been good news.”

New York-based investment bankers Allen & Co. facilitated a transaction that began in October 2024, with the Pohlad family announcing it would explore a sale after 40 years of ownership. Although they intended for a 100 percent sale, Joe Pohlad announced this summer that the ownership group pulled the team off the market and accepted the best offer they’d received to date — a partial sale.

The current transaction sets up the franchise well if the Pohlads were to again consider exploring a sale.

Prior to the August decision, people with knowledge of the sales process said potential buyers were worried about their ability to immediately make money because of the club’s overwhelming debt and decreasing revenues. Among other issues, a reduction in television revenue, an increasing debt payment and the possibility of a work stoppage in 2027 seemingly prevented potential ownership groups from ponying up to buy the Twins.

As a result of the agreement between the Pohlads and their new limited partnership groups, the cash infusion will significantly reduce the club’s debt, which multiple sources say has ballooned over the past five seasons.

“It’s baked into the deal that there’ll be a meaningful, significant pay down of the debt,” one source said.

“They never got the boost out of (winning in 2019) because of COVID. That’s when the debt came on. It never came off. Now, it’s going to come off.”

Expecting to draw at least 2.3 million fans to Target Field in 2020, the Twins’ plans were waylaid by COVID-19, like every other pro sports franchise. Unlike many other teams, the Twins kept all of their employees and paid their minor-league players in 2020. That drove up the debt, which multiple sources said was in the $200 million range after the 2019 season.

In 2021, a combination of attendance restrictions, poor play and perceived security concerns during the trial of Derek Chauvin following George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis the year before led to the Twins drawing only 1.3 million fans.

Despite signing Carlos Correa to a short-term deal and staying in the pennant race in 2022, the Twins brought in only 1.8 million fans. Even after Correa opted out only to return on a six-year deal worth $200 million in 2023 and the team won the division, the Twins didn’t fully resonate with their audience, selling just 1.97 million ticket

Joe Pohlad, executive chair of the Twins since November 2022, has maintained that his family wants to remain as the majority owners of the franchise.Brace Hemmelgarn / Minnesota Twins / Getty Images

Joe Pohlad’s decision to “right-size” the business with a $30 million payroll reduction led to an outpouring of fan discontent in 2024 and the club selling only 1.95 million tickets on the heels of a playoff season. This past season, the Twins sold 1.76 million tickets, a Target Field-low for a non-COVID impacted full season.

The team’s revenue stream was also damaged when FanDuel Sports Network, which paid the Twins $60 million annually for broadcast rights through 2023, stopped carrying the team after offering it reduced fees for the 2024 season. The club is now broadcast on Twins TV, a partnership with MLB that pays them significantly less money than they earned through the 2024 season.

Even as ticket sales trend in the wrong direction, the conclusion of the partial sale leaves the franchise in much better fiscal shape than it was in October 2024.

After trading Correa this summer, the Twins have few long-term player contracts on their books. The team also restocked its farm system with promising, affordable talent when the club dealt 10 players ahead of the July trade deadline. MLB.com ranked the team’s farm system as the second-best in the majors.What You Should Read NextRanking Twins’ trade deadline pickups: 13 new players, from top prospects to toss insAssessing what the Twins’ fire sale got back in trades for Carlos Correa, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Willi Castro and more.

The Twins might look far more attractive to potential buyers come, say, 2028. New national broadcast payouts should be on the horizon — MLB will have new TV deals starting in 2029 — and any labor strife from the 2026-27 collective bargaining negotiations will likely have been resolved. Plus, during the labor talks, the owners will try to make changes to increase their franchise values.

The allure of turning a quick profit might explain why none of the Twins’ new investors asked for an eventual path to power or more control of the club.

“Those of us who follow the industry closely have a much rosier view of where the game is going and the Twins in particular,” said one source with knowledge of the transaction in August. “Anyone who buys a sports team is doing it on what they think it will achieve in the future, not what it’s done in the past or what it’s doing today.”

Whether a future sale is even a consideration is unclear, as several third-generation members of the Pohlad family have expressed interest in keeping the team. Asked about the possibility of selling after MLB’s next collective bargaining agreement is settled, Joe Pohlad downplayed the idea.

“We’re committed to owning this team,” he said in August. “We’ve owned this franchise for 40 years. It’s a really difficult thing to part with.”

Though an official announcement should bring more clarity on the three minority groups, not every name is expected to be revealed. Sources described one of the groups as New York bankers. Another group is Minnesota-based. The third is believed to be a consortium of limited partners who wanted to purchase small chunks of an MLB franchise and were previously involved in other machinations of the sale.

True to Joe Pohlad’s earlier statements, people with knowledge of the organization said the family is listening to their new groups for “fresh thinking.” One source with knowledge of the inner workings said the Pohlad family is open to ideas, though the family ultimately has final say on all decisions.