IT’S OFFICIAL: Kansas City Royals announce a new owner…

Royals complete sale to Sherman and announce investors in his ownership group

The Kansas City Royals announced the franchise’s new ownership group, led by chairman and CEO John Sherman, on Tuesday morning, a group that includes actor and Kansas City sports fan Eric Stonestreet.

The sale of the Royals by former owner David Glass and the Glass family to the Sherman group became official this week, as expected, after the Major League Baseball owners unanimously voted to approve Sherman as the new controlling partner.

Along with Sherman, the Royals identified 22 investors as part of the club’s new ownership group. The minority owners also include Brooks Sherman of Knothole Sports, LLC; Paul Edgerley, co-founder/managing director of VantEdge Partners; Bill Gautreaux, managing partner, MLP Holdings; Carl Hughes of Hughes Sports, LLC; Terry Matlack, co-founder/managing director of VantEdge Partners; and the Dunn Family and JE Dunn.

“Having grown up in the Kansas City area, I have been a Royals fan since the team was founded in 1969,” Edgerley said in a release from the Royals. “During the 70s and early 80s, I spent many a summer night listening to Denny Matthews call the games on the radio; it is one of my favorite memories.

Current Royals announcer Steve Physioc was a high school classmate. “It is extraordinary to be part of the Royals’ future and what I hope are many successful seasons on the field, along with the significant impact the Royals can have on the broader Kansas City community.”

First reported in August, the sale of the team was reportedly for a $1 billion. Sherman take questions from reporters for the first time on Tuesday in a news conference.

“As has been demonstrated especially in recent years, the Royals bring Kansas City and this region together as a community in a positive, fun-filled manner that resonates with people from all walks of life,” Matlack said in the release. “I want this community ‘rally house’ to continue for our children and their children.”

The remaining investors are: The Lockton Family; Michael Haverty and The Michael and Marlys Haverty Family; Seventh Inning Stretch, LP; Peter and Veronica Mallouk of Creative Planning; Rob Kaplan, business leader/venture philanthropist; PlayBallKC, LLC; Alan Atterbury of Blue Note, LLC; J.B. Hebenstreit, Don Wagner, Mariner Kemper of UMB Financial Corporation, along with the Kemper Family; Kent McCarthy, president and founder, Jayhawk Capital Management; Jay A. Pack, president, Pack Family Partnership; Dan Dees co-head of investment banking, Goldman Sachs; Mark Demetree Chairman, MCD Investments LLC, and Stonestreet.

“It’s no secret how passionate I am about Kansas City, along with Kansas City sports and Major League Baseball,” Stonestreet said in the release. “ When this opportunity arose to invest in the Royals, I could not think of a more exciting or fitting way to combine one of my passions with my love for the great people of my hometown. I look forward to being part of a group working to bring championship baseball to Kansas City once again.”