Source: Fox5 San Diego

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The San Diego Padres are reportedly finalizing a record-breaking sale.

Not only is it the biggest sale in MLB history at $3.9 billion, but if it goes through, Jose Feliciano would be the first Puerto Rican to own an MLB team, and his wife, Kwanza Jones, would be the first black woman with majority ownership in a major league baseball team.

“He’s not buying the team because things are broken. He’s buying the team because things are working well,” Jared Diamond, the Wall Street Journal sports reporter who broke the news.

The Padres ranked in the top five in attendance for the last five years, selling out almost every game so far this season.

“The Padres have been an enormous success over the past five or six years, this past decade, really,” Diamond said.

Fans credit the organization’s success to the late Peter Seidler. “He cared about the team. He wanted everything to keep going, and he wanted us to win a championship. That’s all that matters,” Padres fan Shane Abel said.

Rumors of a sale loomed over the Padres’ successful start.

“We knew this day was coming,” season ticket-holder Aaron Millman said.

The road to new ownership left many fans on edge.

“It’s exciting and scary at the same time because we don’t know what the new ownership will bring,” Millman said.

Feliciano will be the first Puerto Rican majority owner.

“I learned that it was a Puerto Rican, and Puerto Ricans are very huge fans of baseball, and it’s in our blood. It’s in our culture completely, so we were like ‘Oh my God, this is exciting,’” said Carmen Acevedo, the museum coordinator with the House of Puerto Rico.

Acevedo says the historic deal breaks ground for the Latino community. “It brings the opportunity for them to just showcase the abilities that we have as Latinos,” she said.

As for the future of the team, fans hope the new owners will use their spending power to recruit and retain the best players.

“Maybe be as competitive as the Dodgers are in spending money,” Abel said.

While Feliciano isn’t a decision-making voice in the Chelsea football club, as a co-owner, he’s invested in a team that doesn’t hesitate to pay its athletes, dropping 1 billion pounds on players since 2022.

Meanwhile, fans can agree on one thing.

“I’m just really hoping that this doesn’t end like the Chargers,” Abel said. “I don’t want the team to leave.”

Diamond suspects the Padres aren’t going anywhere.

“They’re planning on bringing the bulk of their philanthropic work to San Diego, which is a sign, I think they plan to put down roots,” Diamond said of the couple.

As this deal easily crushes the last record of $2.4 billion when Steve Cohen purchased the New York Mets, it’s clear.

The Padres deal now sets a precedent for the rest of the league.

“This is the new benchmark,” Diamond said.

The sale must be approved by 75% of Major League Baseball owners before it’s official.

The Padres expect to finalize the deal by June.