Carl Pohlad purchased the Minnesota Twins for an estimated $44 million in 1984. Forty years later, his family announced on Thursday that it is exploring a sale of the franchise, which is likely to net more than $1 billion.

The decision, Twins executive chair Joe Pohlad, who is Carl’s grandson, said in a statement came this summer after “months of thoughtful consideration,” though he did not explain the family’s reasoning behind the intention to sell in his statement.

“After four decades of commitment, passion and countless memories, we are looking toward the future with care and intention — for our family, the Twins organization and this community we love so much,” Joe Pohlad said in a statement.

The selling process is likely to take months and exploring a sale does not mean one will be completed. In recent years, for example, Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals ownership explored sales of their clubs before deciding against selling.Sales of Major League Baseball teams have been rare in recent years. The last team to change ownership hands, the Baltimore Orioles, was sold earlier this year for $1.725 billion.

Since 2018, four teams have changed hands and all have been for at least a billion dollars. In March, Forbes valued the Twins at $1.46 billion. Sportico valued the franchise even higher at $1.7 billion.

Owners for 40 years

The Pohlad family’s 40-year ownership is among the longest in the major leagues, topped only by the leadership groups of the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies.

Upon Carl Pohlad’s death in 2009, his three sons, Jim, Bob and Bill, inherited the club with Jim serving as control owner. Jim handed over the reins as executive chair to his nephew, Joe, in 2022.

“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul,” Joe Pohlad said in the statement. “This team is woven into the fabric of our lives, and the Twins community has become an extension of our family. The staff, the players, and most importantly, you, the fans — everyone who makes up this unbelievable organization — is part of that. We’ve never taken lightly the privilege of being stewards of this franchise.”

Payroll slashed, front office moves

But recently, the family has come under criticism from the fan base following the decision to slash payroll last offseason by about $30 million.

It was a decision Joe Pohlad defended on the final day of the regular season, following a disappointing late-season collapse that saw the Twins miss the playoffs, saying “I had to make a very difficult business decision but that’s just the reality of my world.”

That was an unpopular sentiment with fans, many of whom have vocally been calling for the family to sell the team of late.

It’s been a period of transition for the Twins, who in recent weeks let go of four coaches and saw general manager Thad Levine decide to leave the organization after eight years. They also came to a new television agreement with Major League Baseball, moving away from Bally Sports North after more than a decade.

But nothing would be more impactful to the organization than a potential sale of the team.

“We truly respect and cherish what the Twins mean to Minneapolis, St. Paul, the great state of Minnesota, and this entire region. Our goal is to be as informative as possible with the team, staff, and you, the fans,” Joe Pohlad said in the statement. “You deserve that, because in so many ways, this team doesn’t belong to any one family — it belongs to all of you. It’s our objective to find an ownership group who all of us can be proud of and who will take care of the Minnesota Twins.”