Is Your Favorite Sports Team For Sale? The Top 6 Possibilities
by Richard Janvrin,
January 13, 2026
While NFL betting sites may not have markets (yet) on which the next sports teams will be sold, there’s always a chance something could happen.
Sports franchises are valued in the billions of dollars, so if you were to search “Sports team for sale,” nothing may come up, but owners, now more than ever, are certainly willing to listen to offers.
Again, there’s no sports franchise for sale outright right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start to read between the lines as to which ones could be in the near future.
Below, I’ll examine the sports franchise ownership of six teams that I think could result in a sale sooner rather than later.
- Minnesota Twins
- Seattle Seahawks
- Chicago White Sox
- New Orleans Saints
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Vancouver Canucks
Minnesota Twins
The Twins have been the subject of a potential sale for quite some time. After all, back in 2024, the Pohlad Family, the owners of the Twins, said they were contemplating selling.
“However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.”
Since then, they haven’t sold, but in December 2025, the Pohlad Family brought in limited partners, Glick Family Investments, who they refer to as a “multi-generational family office that takes a long-term, value-creation approach. The Family focuses on making direct investments in high quality businesses across a broad range of asset classes.”
Now, Tom Pohlad oversees the team and, pending league review, will also become the franchise’s Control Person.
In the replies on X, fans are urging the Pohlad Family to outright sell the team.
“We’d rather have the pohlads just sell the entire team. Should we really believe anything will change with these new partners?” one fan wrote.
“Just sell already and stop announcing the throwing of deck chairs off the titanic. It’s disgraceful to a once proud organization and fan base,” another fan said.
Perhaps this move is to help with an influx of capital, or it could be the beginning of the Twins being another sports team for sale? Only time will tell.
Seattle Seahawks
Seahawks owner Paul Allen died in October 2018. Since then, the team has been owned by the Paul Allen Trust, and his sister, Jody Allen, has run the team.
However, recent transactions are raising eyebrows about a potential sale of the Seahawks.
In September 2025, the Paul Allen Trust sold the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers , another sports franchise for sale once upon a time, to Tom Dundon, who owns the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.
Could this be a move to focus solely on the Seahawks, or is it a sign that the family is ready to let go of the team?
There was also a report that the teams “must be sold.”
“Paul directed that the trust be liquidated upon his death and the assets used to fund his passion projects,” external link – John Canzano reported back in May 2022. “None of this is up in the air. The instructions are clear: The sports franchises and everything in the trust must be sold.”
Perhaps, with the Trail Blazers being sold, there’s some truth to that, and the Seahawks will follow as the next professional sports team for sale.
Chicago White Sox
Of all the potential professional sports teams for sale on this list, the White Sox have the clearest path.
The current owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, is 89 years old, and a buyer appears to be lined up soon.
The buyer is Justin Ishbia, brother of Mat Ishbia, who owns the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. In addition to Mat and Justin, their father, Jeff, would also invest.
In June 2025, it was announced that a long-term agreement” was in place for Ishbia to take over the team as soon as 2029 or as late as 2034 .
For now, he’s a limited partner and paying down debt while helping “support on-going team operations,” per a press release.
The deal is that during the 2029 to 2033 period, Reinsdorf will have the option to sell a controlling interest to Ishbia. If an agreement isn’t completed by then, he’ll take over still, but not until after the 2034 season.
Until either of those points happens, Reinsdorf will own the team. Reinsdorf is also the principal owner of the Chicago Bulls. He bought them in 1981 for $20 million, and now they’re worth about $2 billion.
“Having the incredible opportunity to own the Chicago White Sox and be part of Major League Baseball for nearly 50 years has been a life-changing experience,” Reinsdorf said in the release. “I have always expressed my intent to operate the White Sox as long as I am able and remain committed to returning this franchise to the level of on-field success we all expect and desire.”
The White Sox have had plenty of losing seasons lately. They won the World Series in 2005, but since then, they’ve made the playoffs just four times and haven’t won more than 61 games in a season since they went 81-81 in 2022.
As far as sports franchise owners go, expect a change here in the coming years.
New Orleans Saints
Without sounding morbid, the Saints are essentially a sports franchise for sale, just not officially, because of the age of their owner, Gayle Benson.
She became the owner of both the Saints and New Orleans Pelicans after her husband, Tom Benson, passed away in 2018. They married in 2004.
This came after Tom, in 2014, sent an email to his daughter and two grandchildren stating that he wanted “no further contact with any of you.”
From here, however, Gayle has said the team will be sold after she passes away, and she’s currently 78 years old.
“I can’t take it with me,” Gayle Benson told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “God gives us gifts, and this is a gift. I am a steward for this [organization]. And we help other people with it. My wish is to scatter all the good and gifts that God and Tom have given me to this city and community.”
When the Saints are sold, the proceeds will be donated to local charities.
The league will ensure that the new buyer keeps the team in New Orleans. The new lease agreement between the team and the Superdome is beneficial, as it runs through at least 2035 with options through 2055.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder are coming off one of the best seasons ever in NBA history, capped off by an NBA championship. Now, in 2025-26, they could be headed for another.
Now, according to Berry Tramel of the Tulsa World, a source close to Thunder chairman Clay Bennett told him that the Thunder’s partners will likely want to sell soon.
That said, it’s unclear what “soon” means.
The group that owns the Thunder is called “Professional Basketball Club LLC,” comprising Bennett, Bill Cameron, Everett Dobson, Bob Howard, George Kaiser, Jeff Records, and Jay Scaramucci. The group bought the team in 2006, when it was the Seattle SuperSonics, and moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.
According to CNBC, the team is currently worth about $3.5 billion. The team was bought in 2006 for $350 million.
This is just a report from an anonymous source, but if the Thunder win back-to-back titles, the partners could realize significant returns on their investment, making them a prime candidate as a professional sports team for sale.
Vancouver Canucks
In May 2025, an article published by the Toronto Star, written by Nick Kypreos, reported that the Vancouver Canucks’ owners, the Aquilini family, may be interested in selling the team.
“One question starting to circulate out of Vancouver is whether or not the Aquilini family is contemplating selling part or the majority of the Canucks,” Kypreos wrote in his piece.
The Canucks have responded, saying the team isn’t for sale, but this is still something to monitor as one of the following potential professional sports teams for sale.