The Los Angeles Lakers made history on Wednesday as the Buss family agreed to sell majority ownership of the franchise to Mark Walter for $10 billion, marking the largest ever sale of a professional sports franchise. While each of the late Jerry Buss’ six children owned an equal share of the team, Jeanie Buss has served as the governor, president and team representative at NBA Board of Governors meetings since his death in 2013.
While the Lakers will have a new majority owner, Buss will continue to run the team for the next several years, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
“Important to note. Jeanie Buss will not only remain the Lakers governor, but will continue to run the team for “at least a number of years,” according to sources with knowledge of the deal,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tweeted Wednesday. “In other words, it was guaranteed as part of the agreement that Jeanie Buss would remain in charge for the foreseeable future & Mark Walter fully endorsed this plan, according to sources.”
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Shelburne added that the agreement is different from Mark Cuban’s sale of the Dallas Mavericks. She noted that Buss remaining in charge is guaranteed and has been that way since Walter originally purchased a minority stake in the franchise and got first right of refusal if the family ever sold.
The $10 billion nearly doubled the Boston Celtics $6.1 billion sale in March. The Buss family had owned the Lakers for 46 years, the longest current stretch of any NBA franchise. Jerry Buss originally purchased the franchise for $67.5 million in 1979. They will reportedly retain just over 15% of the franchise.
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