After 40 years and three generations of owning the Minnesota Twins, the Pohlad family announced Thursday it’s considering selling the team.
The Pohlads decided during the summer to explore a sale and have hired Allen & Company, a New York-based investment bank, to handle the process.
“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul,” said Twins executive chair Joe Pohlad, the third-generation owner, in a statement. “This team is woven into the fabric of our lives, and the Twins community has become an extension of our family. The staff, the players, and most importantly, you, the fans — everyone who makes up this unbelievable organization — is part of that. We’ve never taken lightly the privilege of being stewards of this franchise.”
The process of selling professional sports teams can take months or even years, similar to the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. The Pohlads indicated they weren’t in a rush: “After four decades of commitment, passion, and countless memories, we are looking toward the future with care and intention — for our family, the Twins organization, and this community we love so much.”
With the late Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett leading the way, the Twins won World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. Since the turn of the century, the Twins have clinched the American League Central Division nine times and claimed a wild card spot once. Manager Rocco Baldelli has won three division titles in six years.
The team has had its share of lean years as well. The Twins finally broke an 18-game postseason losing streak last year by sweeping Toronto in the Wild Card Series, their first series win since 2002.
Falling short in the fall with talented teams has fueled frustration among the fanbase. Attendance at Target Field, which opened in 2010 to rave reviews, has been in decline. After a feel-good 2023 season that felt like a breakthrough, the Twins were caught up in the bankruptcy proceedings of Diamond Sports Group, which held their local television rights.
A steep decline in revenue this year preceded a spending cut on the roster, with the 2024 payroll nearly $30 million less than 2023. This disappointed some fans who have long been frustrated with the family’s conservative approach to player spending. The skepticism dates back decades to times when family patriarch Carl Pohlad tried to sell the club multiple times. Without traction on a new stadium, he also offered the Twins up for contraction in 2001 before a local judge blocked the plan.
The Twins finished 82-80 this season, missing the playoffs after a late-season collapse, which only enhanced the disappointment.
“Everybody owns this a little bit, and I played a role in that,” Joe Pohlad said in an interview with reporters last month. “We were at an all-time high last year, right? Fans were all in. Players were all in. We were headed down a great direction, and I had to make a very difficult business decision, but that’s just the reality of my world. I have a business to run, and it comes with tough decisions.”
The Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961 after Washington Senators owner Calvin Griffith relocated the team. The franchise has been owned by only two families for more than 100 years, starting with the Griffith family before the 1920 season. The Senators won the World Series in 1924.
Carl Pohlad, who built his fortune in banking, bought the Twins in 1984 for $44 million. He died in 2009. The only major league teams held by the same ownership longer than that are the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox. One of his three sons, Jim Pohlad, succeeded him as chairman. Jim Pohlad’s nephew, Joe Pohlad, stepped in two years ago.