By Mary Whitfill, editor-in-chief
Following his permanent suspension and $2.5 million fine from the NBA for racist comments, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is under pressure to sell his $700 million team. Sterling bought the team for $12.5 million in 1981 and ESPN.com NBA editor Kevin Arnovitz predicts a $1 billion payday if he were he to sell.
Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, announced Tuesday that the league’s board of governors will vote to remove Sterling as owner, a move that would take a three-fourths majority vote from NBA owners.
In the event of a removal, a list of celebrities a mile long have weighed in on their interest in the team, including actors, rappers and CEOs.
The “dream team” of NBA owners comes in trio Oprah Winfrey, David Geffen and Larry Ellison. Winfrey is reportedly “mulling a bid” with support from the fellow billionaires her spokeswoman, Nicole Nichols, has confirmed. Geffen, who co-founded the Dreamworks film studio, told ESPN that Winfrey “thinks It would be a great thing for an important black American to own (another) franchise.”
Boxing mogul Floyd Mayweather Jr. has expressed interest in buying the team and while he alone doesn’t have buy-a-sports-franchise money, fellow boxing superstar Oscar De La Hoya has shown interest. Alongside the duo would be Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schafer and possibly others.
Other interested names include longtime fan Billy Crystal, real estate tycoon Rick Caruso, performer Dr. Dre, Patrick Soon-Shiong and Henry Samueli.
One celebrity who has expressed a lack of interest in the Clippers is veteran buyer Magic Johnson: the man Sterling directed his mistress to not post photos with on Instagram because of the color of his skin. Monday he tweeted “To NBA Fans, I want to put a stop to a rumor. I am not trying to buy the Clippers, they already have an owner.”
While Sterling is set to make a fortune with the selling of his team, Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski summed up why the owner’s loss outweighs his gain:
“The richest slumlord in American sports ownership will make a killing on the sale, but Sterling has lost his courtside seats, his trumped-up charitable photo-ops and celebrity status in Hollywood. He’s lost his make-believe importance in the make-believe city.”
The process of forcing Sterling to sell could take weeks and Sterling has yet to comment beyond “I wish I had just paid her off,” speaking of girlfriend V. Stiviano, to whom he made the racist comments, to DuJour Magazine.
Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
