Ken Young wasn’t trying to promote, however he lastly obtained a proposal he couldn’t flip down.
As a outcome, the Norfolk Tides, the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, will change fingers for the primary time in 30 years.
Young, the crew’s president and chief proprietor since 1993, has agreed to promote the membership to Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns greater than 20 minor league baseball groups, the Tides and DBH introduced Tuesday.
Young, a longtime meals service govt, mentioned the possession change places the crew in no hazard of leaving, including that the membership’s workers will keep put.
“They don’t want to go anyplace,” Young mentioned, referring to DBH. “They know Norfolk’s a good market. The Tides will stay in Norfolk.”
Subject to acquiring the consent of the International League and satisfying different commonplace closing circumstances, the transaction is anticipated to be accomplished promptly.
Norfolk is working below a participant growth contract with the guardian membership that runs by 2030. The Tides lately signed a two-year extension to their Harbor Park lease with the town that runs by the 2024 season and is anticipated to be prolonged long-term within the coming months.
Young, who declined to reveal phrases of the sale, will stay with the membership as an advisor and proceed to assist negotiate the lease extension with the town.
DBH is below the umbrella of Silver Lake, a $101 billion personal fairness funding agency. Founded in 2021 by media conglomerate Endeavor, DBH owns groups from the low Class A stage to Triple-A, together with Gwinnett, Memphis, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and St. Paul of the IL.
Tides common supervisor Joe Gregory mentioned a consultant from DBH was on the town Tuesday to reply questions from the workers.
“It would’ve been easy to just have a Zoom call and put the staff on,” Gregory mentioned. “But for them to actually fly somebody in here and sit down face to face and talk to everybody, I think, shows their effort and their genuine care that they have for the best interests of the existing staff.”
Young mentioned DBH contacted him about buying the crew about 18 months in the past, when the corporate started shopping for a number of minor league golf equipment.
“I really wasn’t interested,” Young mentioned. “And they kept coming back and finally got to a point [where] I thought, ‘I need to listen to these guys.’ So that was really how it came about.”
Young, 72, mentioned his resolution to promote was pushed partially by an growing old group of traders within the crew, whom he mentioned are “satisfied” with the outcomes of the transaction.
Young additionally bought the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, to DBH. The firm now owns practically a 3rd of baseball’s Triple-A franchises, in addition to a handful of Double-A groups.
“Looking at what happened with those transactions, team leadership and front office staff stayed in place,” Gregory mentioned. “This seems like a good thing for the team and for Norfolk and the surrounding area.”
The Orioles, who’ve been affiliated with the Tides since 2007, are on board. In a press release, minor league operations director Kent Qualls thanked Young and the possession group “for the outstanding partnership over our last 17 seasons in Norfolk,” including that Baltimore seems to be ahead to a continued affiliation with the town alongside DBH.
Pat Battle and Peter Freund, govt chairman and CEO, respectively, of DBH, expressed their want for continuity.
“We are thrilled to add this iconic Triple-A franchise to the DBH family and immensely appreciative to be entrusted with continuing Ken’s notable legacy in Norfolk,” they mentioned in a press release. “We are very enthusiastic about the Tides’ future, the incredible staff that is already in place and the continued partnership with the Orioles in the Norfolk community.”
A proposed on line casino past left subject at Harbor Park has gone by a handful of false begins, and its future stays unknown. Young, who lives in Tampa, Florida, mentioned the on line casino venture “really has no bearing on this transaction.”
His recollections of his time within the metropolis are fond.
“I will say that I loved being in Norfolk and having the team there and the fans and everything else,” Young mentioned. “Just great. A good relationship with the city — all of those things. But it was the right time to do this, and they gave us a good offer.”
Last month, the Tides received their first IL title since 1985. They adopted that by profitable the Triple-A National Championship Game in Las Vegas.
Norfolk’s roster this season included a number of of the Orioles’ most extremely regarded prospects, together with 19-year-old shortstop Jackson Holliday, the top-ranked prospect in all of baseball.
The crew’s attendance was the very best it had been since 2008.
“It has been a fantastic year for the Tides, capping off Ken’s legendary ownership tenure,” Gregory mentioned. “The entire staff here thanks Ken for all that he’s done for Norfolk and for minor league baseball.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com