Yahoo Sports Endeavor Selling Diamond Baseball Holdings To Silver Lake
Endeavor has struck a deal to sell its professional development league business, Diamond Baseball Holdings, to investment firm Silver Lake, Endeavor’s major investor, for $280 million.
DBL has been operating under Endeavor “to bring value to local minor league clubs affiliated with Major League Baseball through professional management, best practices, innovation and investment,” the company said. But, “ultimately our relationship with MLB and the MLBPA took priority given the importance of our overall agency business and our continued investment in our baseball representation practice within WME Sports.”
More from Deadline
Endeavor Slashes Price Of Its Pending Acquisition Of OpenBet By $400 Million As Market Flails
Silver Lake Invests $500 Million In Former Blackhall Studios, Now Called Shadowbox
He added, “Silver Lake will be an excellent partner to these Clubs going forward given their deep understanding of the business and their incredible track record of investment in sports IP.”
Pat Battle and Peter Freund will continue to lead the PDL business as executive chairman and CEO of Diamond Baseball Holdings, respectively.
Diamond Baseball’s 10 clubs are: Iowa Cubs (Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs), Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A, St. Louis Cardinals) Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders (Triple-A, New York Yankees), Hudson Valley Renegades (High-A, New York Yankees), San Jose Giants (Single-A, San Francisco Giants), Gwinnett Stripers (Triple-A, Atlanta Braves), Mississippi Braves (Double-A, Atlanta Braves), Rome Braves (High-A, Atlanta Braves), Augusta GreenJackets (Single-A, Atlanta Braves) and Oklahoma City Dodgers (Triple-A, Los Angeles Dodgers).
“We look forward to working closely with Silver Lake and continuing the momentum in championing Minor League Baseball,” said Battle and Freund. “Coming off several months of invaluable support and guidance from Endeavor in establishing this organization, and now moving into Silver Lake’s proven portfolio, the entire DBH organization is enthusiastically focused on this next phase of aggressively growing the business.”
Silver Lake managing director Stephan Evans said: “Since its launch, DBH has established a leadership position in Minor League Baseball, with its clubs playing a pivotal role in local communities across the U.S. We are excited to partner with Pat, Peter and their team to help advance DBH’s mission.”
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Endeavor reports quarterly earnings Thursday.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
