(Photo credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images)

Four prospective ownership groups are expected to make the second -- and final -- bids to buy the San Diego Padres within the next month, The Athletic reported Saturday.

Five groups submitted initial bids, and four remain under consideration. Representative from those four met with Padres officials at their spring training home in Peoria, Ariz., per The Athletic.

Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen paid $2.4 billion in November 2020 to buy the New York Mets, which is the record selling price for a Major League Baseball team. It topped the $2 billion Guggenheim Baseball Management paid for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012.

A group that included the late Peter Seidler bought the Padres for $800 million in August 2012, and the franchise is expected to command another record-breaking amount. Seidler became the franchise's largest stakeholder in 2020, and his family is selling it.

'The Padres, they're going to probably sell in the next couple months for close to $3 billion,' CNBC sports reporter Mike Ozanian said on the CNBC Sport podcast. 'That's going to set a new record for Major League Baseball by far, about $600 million more than the Mets. Why? One of the reasons why is they've really built up their non-baseball business. Concerts, all these other events that they have at Petco Park. Now they're helping other teams and parks do the same thing.'

The second set of bids is due by mid-April.

Three billionaires, all current owners of sports franchises, are among the potential finalists, per The Athletic.

They were identified as Jose E. Feliciano, co-owner of the Chelsea Football Club of the English Premier League; Dan Friedkin, a San Diego native who owns at least three European soccer teams; and Joe Lacob, a co-owner of the Golden State Warriors since 2010.

--Field Level Media