The sale of the San Diego Padres became official on Aug. 17 when husband-and-wife duo José Feliciano and Kwanza Jones took over principal ownership of the ballclub. But they're not alone: Buss Sports Capital has agreed to buy a roughly 5% stake in the franchise, The Athletic reported on Wednesday.
If that last name sounds familiar to sports fans, it's for good reason. Buss Sports Capital was founded by brothers Joey and Jesse Buss after their family sold the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter in 2025. Walter, of course, is also the principal owner of the Dodgers and recently sold the Lakers after only 14 months of ownership amid a federal investigation into his finances.
The Buss family owned the Lakers from 1979 through the aforementioned sale. Jerry Buss bought the team and was the controlling owner for decades, and daughter Jeanie had a hands-on role for a long time before becoming the controlling owner in the wake of Jerry's death in 2013. Joey and Jessie are two of Jerry's sons, half-brothers of Jeanie.
As part of Walter's sale of the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, the Buss family also agreed to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the NBA team, but Jeanie is now contesting that deal, claiming that she did not agree to it. The five non-Jeanie Buss siblings, however, have insisted that they "intend to move forward thoughtfully, respectfully and through the appropriate process" to complete the sale. This continues a long tradition of Buss family drama within the Lakers: Jeanie fired brother Jim as head of basketball operations in 2017, at which point he and brother Johnny attempted to strip Jeanie of her seat on the Lakers board of directors. The two sides ultimately agreed to settle with Jeanie remaining in control of the team. Under Jeanie, Joey and Jesse, the new minority Padres owners, were also fired from the Lakers in 2025.
Whether the Buss brothers buying up stakes in the rival franchise of their sister's former business partner's team is vindictive or just a coincidence, we may never know. They did, for what it's worth, grow up in San Diego.
"We are honored to join Kwanza and José and have the opportunity to contribute to the future of a team that Jesse and I have loved since we were kids growing up in San Diego," Joey Buss said in a statement, via The Athletic. "Sports have always been a part of our family's story, and great organizations have a unique ability to bring people together and create a lasting sense of community. Padres fans have built one of the most passionate and loyal communities in all of sports, and we believe there is a tremendous opportunity to deepen that connection in San Diego and around the world."
"Joey and I had the privilege of learning from our father and then spending nearly two decades building our own careers in professional basketball operations," Jesse Buss said. "We saw firsthand what it takes to build a championship organization, and throughout our careers have applied those lessons across talent evaluation, roster construction, player development and long-term organizational planning. While every sport is different, we believe the principles behind building sustained success are universal. Through Buss Sports Capital, we look forward to bringing that experience to the ownership group, supporting Kwanza and José's vision for the Padres and doing everything we can to help bring a World Series championship to San Diego."
The Padres are one of five MLB teams to have never won the World Series. They entered play Wednesday holding the third and final National League wild-card spot, 9 ½ games out of first in the NL West. They have a one-game lead over the Diamondbacks for that last playoff spot.
