Report: Jerry Reinsdorf in talks to sell White Sox

Jerry Reinsdorf is in “active discussions” regarding a possible sale of the Chicago White Sox, according to a Wednesday report from The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli.

The report points to a potential major shift in Reinsdorf’s thinking. The 88-year-old chairman has owned the team since 1981 and as recently as last year talked about his desire to continue owning it.

“Friends of mine have said, ‘Why don’t you sell? Why don’t you get out?’ My answer has always been: I like what I’m doing, as bad as it is,” Reinsdorf said last summer when Chris Getz was promoted to be the team’s new general manager. “And what else would I do? I’m a boring guy. I don’t play golf. I don’t play bridge.

“And I want to make it better before I go.”

But even with those recently stated opinions, his ownership has been thrust under a high-powered microscope as the White Sox turned in one of the worst seasons in major league history in 2024, setting a new modern record with 121 losses. Various national reports described an organization defined by Reinsdorf’s stubbornness and a seeming preference to operate as if it were 30 years ago, when Reinsdorf was one of the sport’s most powerful owners during a time of labor strife and before baseball stars’ contracts grew to nine figures.

The Athletic report said Reinsdorf is having discussions with a group helmed by former big league pitcher Dave Stewart, who has long fronted an effort to bring an expansion franchise to Nashville. Stewart has a long history in baseball, not only as an All-Star player and World Series winner but as a member of front offices with the Athletics, Padres, Blue Jays and Diamondbacks.

Stewart is close friends with Tony La Russa, who managed Stewart with the A’s and currently works as a senior adviser with the White Sox. La Russa and Reinsdorf are close friends, as well.

Reinsdorf met with the mayor of Nashville during last year’s Winter Meetings, held in the city, sparking much worry throughout the fan base that the White Sox would be moved if Reinsdorf’s wishes for stadium funding were not granted. Reinsdorf’s ties to La Russa and therefore Stewart, who was attempting to bring a team to the city, seemed a more likely reason for the meeting. But Reinsdorf’s history of suggesting the White Sox would depart — and his stated intention to move the team from its current home at Guaranteed Rate Field by the time its lease ends in 2029 — have made for a new round of speculation, with The Athletic report saying it’s unknown what Stewart’s involvement in these discussions means for the team’s long-term future in Chicago.

As mentioned, Reinsdorf has spent many months attempting to gain funding, both private and public, for a new White Sox stadium in the South Loop. The team went as far as releasing renderings of a new ballpark on “The 78” property, where a small baseball diamond was recently installed. Public funding seems a long shot based on comments from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.

Though fans have spent years chanting “sell the team” at White Sox games and directing their frustrations over the state of the team — which is in the early stages of the second rebuilding project started in the last decade — at the chairman, Wednesday’s report brought more curiosity than celebration.

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