Phoenix Suns Owners Are Interested In Purchasing Minnesota Twins

[Matthew Lenz]

Justin Ishbia, who purchased the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury in 2022 with his brother Mat, hs emerged as a bidder for the Minnesota Twins. Let's learn a little bit about the brothers involved in this developing story.

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

According to Bloomberg, Justin Ishbia, who has an estimated net worth north of $5.4 billion, is "exploring a bid" for the Twins.

While news of a potential bid is encouraging by itself, Twins fans have to be dually excited about the Ishbia brothers being the bidders. They promptly acquired NBA super star Kevin Durant a mere days after acquiring the Suns, and this past summer they invested in the Mercury by unveiling a $100 million, state-of-the-art practice facility. Additionally, they went against the norm by making Suns and Mercury game free for all to watch with an over-the-air TV deal. As if all that wasn't encouraging enough, Dan Hayes shared the following regarding their pursuit of building a championship-caliber team.

The Isbia brothers have their hands in a little bit of everything. Justin is a founding partner of a Chicago-based private equity firm, owns an interest in a wholesale mortgage lender, and is a minority owner of Nashville SC of Major League Soccer. Mat is the CEO and chairman of the aforementioned wholesale mortgage lender and has shown interest in bringing the National Hockey League back to Phoenix.

The brothers are very new to the sports ownership business so there's not a lot out there regarding their reputation and how hands-on they are in day-to-day operations. There were questions about their hiring of Nick U'ren (Golden State) and Nate Tibbets (Orlando Magic) as GM and Head Coach, respectively, as he wanted to bring more of the NBA into the WNBA. There was also scrutiny by some for how the Phoenix Mercury handled the maternity leave of then Mercury player Skylar Diggins-Smith, following her pregnancy. Finally, Mat Ishbia was involved in an altercation with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.

In short, this appears to be a very positive development for the Twins and their fans as the Ishbia brothers have a track record, albeit small, of aggressively investing into their teams and making the product more accessible to fans. Time will tell if they can reach a deal with the Pohlad's and make this official.

What are your initial thoughts on the news? Join the conversation in the comments!

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[UK Twin]

Very early days, but this would be a complete gamechanger for the Twins franchise. They pretty much check every box for ideal owners - deep pockets and ambitions to match. 

Too early to get too excited about this, but promising signs.

[DocBauer]

Exciting to be sure!

An ownership that loves sports and wants to invest in a winner and even make it accessible to the fans?

What a novel idea! It's so crazy it just might work. 

[SF Twins Fan]

I have no idea if they would be good owners or not but the fact that they're actual fans of baseball is definitely a good sign.  The Pohlads only cared about the bottom line and never about actually winning.

[glunn]

This is encouraging news. Let's hope it works out.

[sweetmusicviola16]

16 minutes ago, SF Twins Fan said:

I have no idea if they would be good owners or not but the fact that they're actual fans of baseball is definitely a good sign.  The Pohlads only cared about the bottom line and never about actually winning.

Eloise was a baseball fan and Carl wanted to make and keep his old lady happy.

[CRF]

YEAH BABY! Very exciting news, if it's legit. Throw out the welcome mat! 

[ashbury]

Forbes lists Justin at $4.9B net worth.  That seems actually a bit light in this day and age, where you don't want a market downturn to suddenly cause team management to sell assets or whatever because the owner's wealth is highly leveraged. Still, it's a good start - a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you're talking real money. 😀

[ashbury]

8 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Eloise was a baseball fan and Carl wanted to make and keep his old lady happy.

That was the polite fiction which veteran shill Sid Hartman, may he rest in peace, kept running in his columns.  She may have liked the sport more than her hubby did, but it's doubtful a good word from her affected the team's balance sheet materially.

[SF Twins Fan]

6 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Forbes lists Justin at $4.9B net worth.  That seems actually a bit light in this day and age, where you don't want a market downturn to suddenly cause team management to sell assets or whatever because the owner's wealth is highly leveraged. Still, it's a good start - a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you're talking real money. 😀

Justins is $4.9B but Mat's is around $10B.

[NYCTK]

7 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Forbes lists Justin at $4.9B net worth.  That seems actually a bit light in this day and age, where you don't want a market downturn to suddenly cause team management to sell assets or whatever because the owner's wealth is highly leveraged. Still, it's a good start - a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you're talking real money. 😀

His brother adds another 10B to the ownership group. 

[TheLeviathan]

This really would be ideal.  And I can see why the Twins would be an appealing spot:

Stadium is a non-issue.

Long history for the franchise, so the fan base COULD be strong with proper investment.

Recent success and current star power.

Front office appears to at least be competent.

[Muppet]

Soooo….what’s the catch?

[GNess]

Great news - if this works out the Twins may be able to put on their big boy pants and make a real effort to be exceptional.

[USAFChief]

42 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Forbes lists Justin at $4.9B net worth.  That seems actually a bit light in this day and age, where you don't want a market downturn to suddenly cause team management to sell assets or whatever because the owner's wealth is highly leveraged. Still, it's a good start - a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you're talking real money. 😀

Relax. I'm on board as a silent partner and, don't wanna brag, but I bring another 2 or 3 thousand liquid cash to the table.

Provided, of course, Mrs Chief doesn't catch wind of this. 

[chinmusic]

Too bad Soto's off the market🙂  Seriously, a ray of light in these dark December days.

[PseudoSABR]

Not sure if it will be a good thing for them to be largely absentee, as I believe they reside in the Phx area.  Even with private jets, a 162 flights a year is a lot; or if they do the snow bird thing, that won't be for the whole season given the NBA playoff/MLB overlap in early summer.

[gman]

Definitely a wait and see situation. Hopefully they would be supportive but not trying to involve themselves with running day to day operations.

[bean5302]

Highly encouraging for multiple reasons. It means A) there are interested parties who could potentially buy the team and B) it lights a fire under other potential buyers so the market should accelerate a lot now, just a few weeks out from an arbitration decision on the Timberwolves purchase.

[sweetmusicviola16]

15bil combined is a lot more comforting.

[bean5302]

6 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

15bil combined is a lot more comforting.

Mark L. Attanasio, the owner of the Brewers, has an estimated net worth of $700MM. I think it was like $450MM a few years ago.

Mark Walter, the controlling Dodgers' owner has a net worth of $6B.

If prospective buyers are interested, but they don't have enough money, they'll pool together with an ownership group so I don't think we need to sweat it too much.

[sweetmusicviola16]

12 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Mark L. Attanasio, the owner of the Brewers, has an estimated net worth of $700MM. I think it was like $450MM a few years ago.

Mark Walter, the controlling Dodgers' owner has a net worth of $6B.

If prospective buyers are interested, but they don't have enough money, they'll pool together with an ownership group so I don't think we need to sweat it too much.

So Soto just equaled this guy in net worth. smh

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, Muppet said:

Soooo….what’s the catch?

It's Friday so I keep looking for the satire articles 

[Brandon]

I’ve met Matt Ishbia a few times.  He’s a positive high energy person.  Was the last man on the bench in college ball.  Knows how to win and has the Pohlads loyalty/ family vibe to the workplace.  You will like him as the owner only concern is he is based out of Detroit.  Ishbia took a small mortgage wholesaler and made them in some respects the largest lender in the Nation.  He runs his company off of 6 principles. I don’t remember them but thumbs for I’m responsible and people are your biggest resource.  I’m going to go visit his company again soon. Hopefully in January.  Let me know if you want me to ask any questions 

[cmoss84]

Billions? check.

Messes with Jokic? check.

Likes to spend on FA? check.

ok deal. do they have interest in moving the team? Otherwise this is perfect

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Fingers and toes crossed!

[PDX Twin]

22 minutes ago, Patzky said:

It's Friday so I keep looking for the satire articles 

And Friday the 13th, even.

[cmoss84]

4 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

And Friday the 13th, even.

13 is odd. 

[Brett]

Maybe someone should send him a link to Twins Daily. Only then will he understand what he’s in for.

[howeda7]

2 hours ago, SF Twins Fan said:

Justins is $4.9B but Mat's is around $10B.

Good. He'll have size envy and be driven to get the Twins a title before the Suns do...