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Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner just bought the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion, a new record for an NBA team and 25% more than the franchise sold for just last year. It’s the latest in a run of eye-popping sports sales, following last month’s $9.6 billion sale of the Seattle Seahawks.
Two forces are feeding sports franchise fever, according to the New York Times. TV rights are worth far more than they used to be (the NBA’s current 11-year broadcast deal is worth about $77 billion) and sports betting’s legalization opened an entirely new revenue stream. There’s also a growing belief that live sports are one of the few things AI won’t disrupt.
Not everyone’s thrilled about it. Podcaster and media figure Bill Simmons called the pattern “bonkers,” comparing team sales to flipping a mansion and warning of an era where teams become “giant hedge fund plays.” University of Maryland sociologist David Andrews has raised similar concerns, though he notes fans don’t seem to be turning away yet: “Sport is the goose that laid the golden egg,” he told the Times. “For whatever reason, the goose is kind of still alluring, and we’re still enchanted by the game despite its hyper-financialization.”