FINALLY, WHITE SOX FANS SHOULD REJOICE WILDLY AS THE ISHBIAS JOIN REINSDORF
With $15.5 billion in net worth, Justin and Mat Ishbia have increased shares and are listed with Reinsdorf as three owners — which generates real hope that Chicago will remain a two-team baseball town
The ownership change exploded from a sports valuations page at CNBC, far from the Chicago media, people who should be cradled to Jerry Reinsdorf’s maneuvers as an 89-year-old disposing of the White Sox. Finally, he has allowed his decrepit franchise to be purchased earnestly by two fortysomethings who could be his grandchildren.
They are listed together as three owners, with Reinsdorf about to disappear after his group allowed the Ishbias to increase their shares. Many of us have waited decades for a blockbuster, having watched Jerry win only one World Series in 45 years and reach the postseason only six other times with no victories in the bunch.
This means Justin and Mat Ishbia eventually should take over the operation, giving the city a grand opportunity to build a new ballpark and retain two Major League Baseball teams. When it seemed the Sox were headed to Nashville or any place that would dispose of Reinsdorf, the Ishbias are taking over another team in their early years as owners of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Mat has been bold and somewhat reckless as majority controller of the Suns, bringing in Kevin Durant and watching a substandard mixture fall out of the postseason race. But they will spend lots of money — together, their net worth is $15.5 billion — something Reinsdorf does not do in an all-time Chicago sham.
They have arrived to save the Sox after Justin bailed from a bid to buy the Minnesota Twins. This couldn’t be happier news for a fan base that watched a 141-loss season last year and now deals with a 2-10 start, right on pace for another all-time smear. For a while, we were looking at the Sox as a prime retraction candidate after the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1, 2026. The owners will demand a salary cap. The Players Association won’t budge. Without the invasion of the Ishbias, who would want the Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, the Athletics (don’t mention Sacramento), the Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins?
The Athletics and Rays play in minor-league ballparks that deserve $5 entry fees. This while the Pirates play destructive fan games after removing a sign for Roberto Clemente on the right-field wall and dumping Bucco Bricks — funded by fans — into a recycling plant in Pittsburgh. The Angels are fading away in Orange County in an aging stadium that died when Shohei Ohtani left for the Dodgers. Miami doesn’t draw fans when the Reinsdorf of Dade County, Bruce Sherman, won’t spend. The low-rent dribble no longer works when baseball has fallen far behind the franchise values of the NFL and NBA. In Chicago, even the NHL Blackhawks are worth $2.6 million, ahead of the Sox at $2.15 million.
Amazingly, the Sox have been rescued when the Ishbias could have tried something more meaningful. They were raised in a Jewish family north of Detroit, in Birmingham. Mat wanted the Suns. Justin wants the Sox, which is convenient with his love of Chicago and the $77.8 million mansion he’s building in Winnetka. Both brothers have been quieted by Reinsdorf, but CNBC beat them to the big story. All will have to speak. How about this weekend at Rate Field? The fans, bruised and abused, deserve it.
Until now, what have they dealt with? Jack McDowell doesn’t like Reinsdorf yet will speak June 6 and 7 at the park. Robin Ventura was fired as Sox manager yet will speak May 9 and 10. Hey, Scott Podsednik is around tonight and Saturday. Boy.
In a longtime funk, Chicago people only are generated by massive new vibes. The same owners have run these teams forever, with the Cubs showing recent life after a 2009 purchase by Tom Ricketts and his family. The Bears and Bulls haven’t won a title in the 21st century. The Hawks are connected to Reinsdorf and his UHF television station for the Sox and Bulls. They need hope to remain interested.
This is hope. Three owners are on the list, and two of them are not named Reinsdorf.
Go home, Jack and Robin. Are we seeing a glimpse of 2026 and beyond?
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.