There's been a lot of ownership changes for the Los Angeles Lakers in the past few years, but some longtime owners who recently sold have announced they're not done with sports. Two of the children of Jerry Buss, Joey and Jesse, are buying into a Major League Baseball team, but it's probably not the one you'd expect. No, it's not the Dodgers.
It's actually their Southern California rival, the San Diego Padres, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The Busses are buying about 5% of the Padres through their investment firm, Buss Sports Capital, a move that comes as Kwanza Jones and Jose E. Feliciano's ownership group takes a majority stake in the Friars.
It also comes after the Buss family sold its majority stake in the Lakers last year to Dodgers owner Mark Walter, then divested entirely as Walter sold the team to former Disney CEO Robert Iger and Josh Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump. Given those ownership ties and the Los Angeles connection, the Dodgers might have made more sense, though Joey Buss said in a statement that he and Jesse have long been Padres — not Dodgers — fans. "We are honored to join Kwanza and José and have the opportunity to contribute to the future of a team that Jesse and I have loved since we were kids growing up in San Diego," Joey Buss said in a statement.
"Sports have always been a part of our family's story, and great organizations have a unique ability to bring people together and create a lasting sense of community. Padres fans have built one of the most passionate and loyal communities in all of sports, and we believe there is a tremendous opportunity to deepen that connection in San Diego and around the world. "The Padres are on the cusp of something special, and through Buss Sports Capital, we look forward to bringing our experience and perspective to the ownership group and doing our part to build on the strong foundation already in place." Jesse Buss added that they'll use their experience working with the Lakers to improve the Padres.
"Joey and I had the privilege of learning from our father and then spending nearly two decades building our own careers in professional basketball operations," he said. "We saw firsthand what it takes to build a championship organization, and throughout our careers have applied those lessons across talent evaluation, roster construction, player development and long-term organizational planning. While every sport is different, we believe the principles behind building sustained success are universal." Now, they'll be using those Lakers-learned lessons against Walter, whose Dodgers are in first place in the National League West.
In second is none other than the Padres.
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