Seidler, Padres chairman and owner, dies at 63
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, who elevated his team to national prominence with financial commitments in the hundreds of millions but never saw the team win a World Series, died Tuesday. He was 63.
The Padres did not disclose a cause of death, but Seidler, a two-time cancer survivor, revealed in a statement Sept. 18 he had undergone a medical procedure the prior month that would prevent him from attending any games for the remainder of the 2023 season.
Majority ownership of the Padres will remain in the Seidler family moving forward.
The Padres will open the Home Plate Gate at Petco Park on Tuesday afternoon for fans who wish to gather and pay their respects. The team will spend the rest of this week grieving his loss but is expected to name its new field manager next week, likely before Thanksgiving.
In a statement, Padres CEO Erik Greupner wrote: “The Padres organization mourns the passing of our beloved chairman and owner, Peter Seidler. Today, our love and prayers encircle Peter’s family as they grieve the loss of an extraordinary husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend. Peter was a kind and generous man who was devoted to his wife, children and extended family. He also consistently exhibited heartfelt compassion for others, especially those less fortunate.
“His impact on the city of San Diego and the baseball world will be felt for generations. His generous spirit is now firmly embedded in the fabric of the Padres. Although he was our chairman and owner, Peter was at his core a Padres fan. He will be dearly missed.”
The grandson of decorated Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley and a devoted baseball fan himself, Seidler will be remembered as the man who green-lit major free agent contracts for Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts while also spending big to retain the likes of Fernando Tatis Jr., Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish, among others.
Under Seidler’s watch, the Padres reached the postseason during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, ending a 14-year drought, and went all the way to the National League Championship Series in 2022, a year highlighted by a thrilling, division series-clinching victory over the rival Dodgers at a sold-out Petco Park.
The Padres operate within a bottom-third television market, with a fan base nationally considered to be generally apathetic, but Seidler believed the locals would rally around his team if an ownership group properly invested in it. Before his passing, Seidler saw that vision become a reality. Despite a disappointing, playoff-less finish, the Padres set a new attendance record in 2023, selling the second-most tickets in baseball and drawing more than 3 million fans for only the second time in their history. Record revenues came with it.
Their Opening Day payroll stood at nearly $250 million, third highest in the sport — behind only the New York Yankees and the New York Mets — and roughly 40% higher than the franchise-record-setting number they reached just two years earlier. Widespread reports had them cutting costs this offseason, but the Padres were still expected to operate within the $200 million range, a sizeable commitment for a team that had been handled as a small-market franchise through its prior decades of existence.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of Peter’s passing,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wrote in a statement. “Peter grew up in a baseball family, and his love of the game was evident throughout his life. He was passionate about owning the Padres and bringing the fans of San Diego a team in which they could always take pride. Peter made sure the Padres were part of community solutions in San Diego, particularly with the homeless community. He was an enthusiastic supporter of using the Padres and Major League Baseball to bring people together and help others.”
Seidler, co-founder of the private-equity investment firm Seidler Equity Partners, helped purchase the Padres in 2012 and officially became the controlling owner in November 2020. A two-time survivor of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Seidler also became a major ambassador in San Diego. Seven years ago, he formed the “Tuesday Group” that hosted weekly meetings to address homelessness issues throughout San Diego. One year, he helped raise more than $18 million through the Padres’ “Pedal the Cause” for local cancer research. Since he began to preside over the team, the Padres say donations for their foundation, which supports underserved communities in the region, have grown “by more than 10-fold.”
Within the Padres and throughout the community, Seidler built a reputation as somebody who was exceedingly passionate, deeply loyal and uncommonly kind. He often talked about seeing the good in people and choosing to think positively about difficult situations. And he wanted nothing more than to bring San Diego its first major championship.
Seidler is survived by his wife, Sheel; his mother, Terry; three children and nine brothers and sisters.
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.
In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”
Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.
The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.
Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.
Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.
“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.
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Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.
Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.
“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”
Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.
Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.
Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.
Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).
When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).
With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.
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