Alden Global Capital co-founder Heath Freeman is buying the club and PayPal Park, with the deal expected to close in the coming weeks.
John Fisher is selling off another piece of his Bay Area sports portfolio. The Earthquakes announced Friday that Fisher has agreed to sell the MLS club, along with its home stadium PayPal Park in San Jose, to Heath Freeman, co-founder and president of private equity firm Alden Global Capital.
MLS's Board of Governors has already approved the sale, according to the team's release, and the transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks. The deal values the franchise at 625 million dollars, a figure confirmed to multiple outlets though the parties themselves have not disclosed financial terms.
Freeman's firm is based in New York and already owns a stable of newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News. Once the sale closes, he becomes the Earthquakes' new principal owner and will represent the team in league matters.
For Fisher, it marks another exit from Bay Area sports ownership after he moved the Athletics out of Oakland. The Earthquakes are one of MLS's founding franchises, dating back to the league's first season in 1996, and the sale hands control of that history to a new owner just as the club looks toward its next era under Freeman.