Lakers Sale Tops $12 Billion, Setting New Record for Sports Franchises

According to recent reports, Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger plan to acquire the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers for a sum exceeding $12 billion, a figure that eclipses every prior sports franchise transaction. The purchase will conclude Mark Walter’s brief tenure as the team’s owner, which began less than a year ago. One outlet’s data shows that a new sales record has been set 24 times in the last 60 years, beginning with one outlet’s 1964 acquisition of the New York Yankees for $13.2 million.

Franchise values rose modestly for three decades before accelerating in the 1990s, highlighted by Peter Angelos’s 1993 Baltimore Orioles deal valued at $173 million. The record was broken several times thereafter, culminating in Dan Snyder’s 1999 purchase of the then-Washington Redskins for $800 million, and his 2023 sale of the Commanders for $6.05 billion. The Lakers transaction now stands as the latest and highest benchmark in this trend.