Sports business expert predicts quick, lucrative sale of Twins

• "That's got to drive the price up. My strong guess is yes (they will hit the $1.5 billion estimate), and my strong guess is they probably go a little bit north of that," Kishner said.

Catch up quick: The Pohlads announced last week they will explore a sale of the team, 40 years after the late Carl Pohlad bought the franchise for $44 million.

The intrigue: Minnesota only has five billionaires, but that doesn't mean a local buyer won't emerge.

• Kishner said modern pro franchise owners are often made up of a group of investors, and MLB allows teams to sell as much as 30% of their equity to private equity firms, according to Sportico.
• In other words, a buyer doesn't need to have $1.5 billion in cash, or anywhere near that.

What we're watching: Kishner thinks the Pohlads are trying to sell the team before the start of next season, which begins in late March.

• "I suspect that when the announcement was made a book (with the offering) was already put together, and it probably was already circulating, and that's probably why it was announced."