So apparently the Indians almost had a new owner

Major League Baseball’s owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Kansas City Royals to a new ownership group led by John Sherman, a Kansas City businessman. You may recognize that name, as he was a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians.

But if a report from the Kansas City Star is to be believed, Sherman was on track to become much more than that, had the opportunity to own the Royals not presented itself:

Sherman is a minority owner in the Indians, a stake thought to be around 30 percent. He had a path to become the majority owner but instead will divest himself of that interest to control his hometown team, the one he’s had season tickets for in the past.

Talk about burying the lede.

I admittedly don’t know enough about Sherman to weigh in on whether or not Indians fans should be disappointed, but I certainly can’t fault him for wanting to lead his hometown team.

The headline here seems to be that the Dolans are interested in selling, or were at least in discussions to do so once Sherman came onboard. If you’ll recall, Sherman became a minority owner of the Indians three years ago, after the World Series run and prior to the signing of Edwin Encarnación. It is widely believed that his investment provided the cash influx necessary to sign Encarnación to the largest deal in franchise history.

What does this mean for the future of the Dolans’ ownership? Who knows.

UPDATE (3:47 p.m. ET): The Dolans issued a statement regarding Sherman’s minority ownership, but did not comment on the report from the Kansas City Star: