LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to billionaire Mark Walter is expected to close later this year in a deal that will see Jeanie Buss remain governor of the club “for the foreseeable future,” Walter and Buss announced on Wednesday.
The official confirmation comes a week after US media reported that the Buss family would sell controlling interest in the iconic National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise in a record-breaking $10-billion deal that makes the Lakers the highest-valued team in US sports history.
“Businessman and philanthropist Mark Walter has reached an agreement with the Buss Family Trust to acquire a majority stake in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers,” a statement on the deal issued by the interested parties said. “Jeanie Buss will remain governor of the franchise and continue to oversee all team operations on a day-to-day basis for the foreseeable future.”
“From the day our father purchased the Lakers, we have been determined to deliver what the City of Los Angeles deserves and demands: a team that is committed to winning — relentlessly — and to doing so with passion and with style,” Jeanie Buss said in the statement.
“I have gotten to know Mark very well over time and been delighted to learn how he shares those same values,” Buss added. “For the last four years, Mark has been an excellent partner to us, and we are thrilled to keep working with him to continue the Lakers’ extraordinary legacy.”
Walter is the chief executive of holding company TWG Global, which has built an impressive portfolio of professional sports teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Sparks. He is also part of the ownership group of English Premier League side Chelsea.
TWG also owns the Billie Jean King Cup tennis tournament and the Cadillac Formula One team, and Walter was already a minority owner of the Lakers.
His acquisition of the Lakers will mark the end of an era in the NBA, whose modern popularity owes much to the franchise’s 1980s heyday.
The Lakers were bought in 1979 by charismatic tycoon Jerry Buss, who quickly helped turn the franchise into a sporting powerhouse as well as a globally recognized brand.
The Buss era brought the Lakers 11 NBA championships — more than any other team over the same period — and encompassed golden ages which included the “Showtime” Lakers of Magic Johnson as well as a hat-trick of championships between 2000 and 2002 when the team was spearheaded by Kobe Bryant.