The Minnesota Twins are up for sale and fans were excited when Justin Ishbia was mentioned as a potential buyer last week.
While the early stages of a potential sale are filled with enticing names, a report by KSTP’s Darren Wolfson shows just how badly the alternate governor of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns wants to buy a MLB franchise and why it could be the Twins.
Justin Ishbia is forming an investment group to buy the Minnesota Twins
Wolfson appeared on SKOR North’s Minnesota Sports with Mackey and Judd on Tuesday and confirmed reports by Bloomberg and The Athletic that Ishbia was interested in buying the Twins. Wolfson also noted that Ishbia has reached out to Minnesota-based business partners to form an investment group to buy a major league franchise.
“Justin has reached out to a number of Minnesota luminaries including a higher-up at Marvin [Windows and Doors] Company up in Warroad, trying to drum up interest of some big shots up here in the state of Minnesota to join him,” Wolfson said. “Justin has been aggressively reaching out over the past few weeks to a number of individuals.”
SKOR North producer and Twins beat podcaster Declan Goff also confirmed that Ishbia has followed several beat writers associated with the team in an attempt to do his homework on what could be his new team and Wolfson mentioned that buying a franchise is “written on the wall” at his Shore Capital Partners office in Chicago.
“You do a little bit of a background check on him and his office in Chicago…it’s like one of their goals,” Wolfson said. “It’s written in different spots in their palatial offices that owning a Major League Baseball team is a want. That has been a legit goal. …Now knowing that is written on the wall, that [it’s] a stated goal at his office, it makes all the sense in the world.”
How realistic is Justin Ishbia’s goal of buying the Minnesota Twins?
Justin Ishbia buying the Twins would be a huge win for the fan base. The Pohlad family announced their intention to sell the team in October and Ishbia, who is the brother of Suns owner Mat Ishbia could adopt the same “go big or go home” philosophy that has been used to bring Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal to the desert with big-money contracts.
But while it would make sense for Ishbia to buy the team, Wolfson suggested there are some hurdles even if he believes Ishbia can make the best total offer including whether the Pohlad family is willing to sell for less than the $1.725 billion that David Rubenstein paid to buy the Baltimore Orioles in March.
Time will tell if the Ishbia will complete a purchase for the Twins, but it appears the interest is there if they can get the money right.