Credit: USA TODAY

Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post reports the Lerner family has begun investigating selling the Washington Nationals franchise. As part of those efforts, the family has retained Allen & Company to assist in identifying investors or purchasers of the franchise.

The Mets have a history with Allen & Company. Back in 2011, the Wilpons retained them to sell minority shares of the team in the wake of the Madoff scandal. In 2018, Jeff Wilpon’s son, Bradley, was hired as an investment banking analyst. Finally, Allen & Co. was retained after Steve Cohen’s first attempted purchase of the Mets dissolved.

In terms of the Nationals’ rights, they have retained them while the organization continues to battle with Mid-Atlantic Sports Network over broadcasts revenues. It also occurred as the pandemic impacted the Lerners’ commercial real estate business. On that point, Svrluga notes the Lerners net worth has dropped from $5.5 to $3.7 billion.

While not specifically Svrluga’s article, there is also the prospect of the deferred contracts coming due. For example, this will be the first installment of the $15 million deferred payments Max Scherzer will receive through 2027. While these deferred deals are starting to come, the Nationals are also trying to sign a contract extension with superstar Juan Soto.

Team spokesperson Jennifer Giglio said, “This process does not impact the team’s ability to make baseball decisions.” She went on to say, “It will not distract the organization from our goal of being a first-class organization and fielding a winning team.”

Of course, the Nationals have just begun a rebuild, slashing their payroll. Per Spotrac, the Nationals had a $144 million payroll in 2021. That number is down to an active payroll of $88.6 million this season.

As noted by Svrluga, the combination of all factors has caused this sudden reversal from the Lerners. On that point, back in 2018, Mark Lerner said the family would never sell the Nationals. Back in 2018, Mark had overtaken the team’s day-to-day operations from his father, Ted.

Now, Lerner states they have begun this “exploratory process” while being “committed as ever to their employees, players, fans, sponsors, and partners and putting a competitive product on the field.”