John Fisher is close to officially being out of the Bay Area sports business.
Fisher, who moved the A’s from their longtime home in Oakland, has agreed to sell the San Jose Earthquakes, the team announced Friday. Major League Soccer’s Board of Governors approved the sale, according to the Quakes’ news release, and the deal is expected to close in “the coming weeks.”
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Fisher is selling the Earthquakes and their home stadium, PayPal Park in San Jose, to Heath Freeman, co-founder and president of Alden Global Capital, a private equity firm based in New York. The company owns several newspapers around the country, including the Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News.
Freeman bought the Earthquakes and their stadium for $625 million, the Chronicle confirmed. Fisher paid a $20 million expansion fee to buy the franchise in 2007.
The Earthquakes were a founding member of MLS in 1996. They enjoyed an uncommonly strong 2026 season, finishing fourth in the Western Conference with 52 points and a 14-10-10 record.
San Jose hosts No. 5 seed Houston in the opening game of a best-of-three, first-round playoff series Nov. 24.
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“My family and I have loved owning this club for almost 20 years, and we are extremely grateful for the support of our amazing fans as well as the hard work of all our coaches, players and staff,” Fisher said in a statement. “… Heath shares our belief in this club and this community, and he brings the ambition and commitment to take the Quakes forward.”
Alden Global Capital is known for severe cost-cutting at its newspapers. A Chronicle story in 2024, focused on the company’s business strategy, was headlined, “How American newspapers have been ‘Stripped for Parts.'”
Five years earlier, a similar piece in the Washington Post ran under this headline: “A hedge fund’s ‘mercenary’ strategy: Buy newspapers, slash jobs, sell the buildings.”
Freeman purchased the Earthquakes as an individual, not as part of Alden. His involvement in sports includes his role as managing partner of the Florida Freedom of PBR (Professional Bull Riders), according to Friday’s news release, and as executive chairman of AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals), the main beach volleyball league in the U.S.
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“My family and I are honored and humbled to be the next generation owners of the San Jose Earthquakes,” Freeman said in a statement. “Our vision is simple – winning on and off the field for San Jose and the entire region.”
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This article originally published at John Fisher agrees to sell San Jose Earthquakes to private equity executive.