Sale of Padres Collapses, Team Off Market Now

SAN DIEGO —  Plans to sell the National League San Diego Padres to the owner of the Seattle Mariners have collapsed, Padres owner Joan Kroc announced today.

In Seattle, George Argyros said he will retain the American League club, which he had put up for sale when he announced plans to buy the Padres.

At a news conference, Kroc said the “agony of defeat” in the Padres’ 11-37 start this season helped persuade her to remain in ownership. She said she is taking the club off the market for at least the rest of the season and maybe longer.

Argyros, a self-made millionaire who lives in Newport Beach, had said he planned to purchase the Padres from Kroc by the end of June. Kroc said today that both realized that the sale would not work as smoothly as they had originally believed.