Joshua Hicklin
Staff Writer
The Chicago White Sox have just finished a historically bad season with 121 losses and only 41 wins. This season will not only go down as the worst season in Chicago White Sox history but also the most losses in a modern-era baseball season (1901-present).
Obviously, this is not what any owners want to see from their team, and this was the last draw for White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Reinsdorf, who is 88 years old, has denied rumors for years about him looking for potential sales, but suddenly this changed when he announced he was in discussion with an ownership group led by Dave Stewart, a former MLB player.
Reinsdorf became a minority owner of the White Sox in 1981 and slowly purchased shares of the team over the past 43 years, eventually becoming the majority owner of the team. In the past few years, there have been rumors about the Sox and the team potentially being sold by Reinsdorf or even relocated to another city, such as Nashville, Tennessee. All these rumors were denied by Reinsdorf, but he recently showed interest in selling the team after several meetings with different investment groups. Reinsdorf is not just any typical MLB team owner, he is the longest active tenured owner in the MLB.
If Reinsdorf is to sell the team, this could mean several new opportunities for the Chicago White Sox. Three of these options are relocation, modernization, and the impact of fresh faces in the organization. These options are not exclusive and can be even more impactful when more than one opportunity is used.
Relocation could be a positive or negative opportunity as the Sox have been in Chicago for over 100 years, which makes their historical roots strong, and moving cities could cause them to lose fans. But relocation could be positive as Chicago is a two-team city, having not only the White Sox but also the Cubs, and by moving cities they would not have to share local fans with another team.
The team could also modernize by having the new owners be willing to pour more money into player salaries and stadium upgrades, making this historical team have a more appealing future.
The last opportunity that new ownership would give is motivation for the players and coaches to impress the new ownership, as they may be fighting to keep their jobs since the new owners might not feel a commitment to the active coaches and players.
Even though nothing is official when it comes to a potential sale of the team it is something not only for White Sox fans to keep an eye on but for all Major League Baseball fans to watch out for.