By: PEGGY LOWE
A Kansas City businessman will buy the Royals for $1 billion in a deal expected to be finalized in November, according to a report published Friday.
John Sherman, 64, signed an agreement with David Glass, 83, the current Royals owner, USA TODAY reported, citing an anonymous source within the MLB. Glass, who has been Royals owner for 20 years, “is undergoing health problems, which prompted him to sell the team,” the newspaper reported.
Sherman, a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians, is well-known in Kansas City business and philanthropy circles. He founded several energy companies and an investment firm.
The Royals had no comment on the report. The MLB owners would have to approve the sale and Sherman would have to give up his ownership in the Cleveland team.
Among the institutions Sherman and his wife, Marny, have supported are the Truman Presidential Library Institute, Teach for America Kansas City, and the Notre Dame de Sion School. Sherman is a trustee for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
News of a Royals sale first surfaced Tuesday and former Kansas City Mayor Sly James quickly commented.
“John Sherman is a hell of a guy and would be a tremendous owner,” James tweeted.
Peggy Lowe is a KCUR reporter and is on Twitter at @peggyllowe.
(Kansas News Service)
www.kcur.org
