Deal to sell 76ers in final stage
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Deal to sell 76ers in final stage
Although Comcast-Spectacor's deal to sell the 76ers to a group of investors led by New York billionaire Joshua Harris is "still not done," multiple sources around the negotiation have confirmed that the deal is in its final stages and that an announcement is expected soon, likely within the next few business days, possibly even sooner.
Ken Berger of CBS Sports is reporting that the deal has been finalized. You can find that story here: CBS Sports. But, as stated above, other sources have indicated that talks, while advanced, are still ongoing.
Once terms of the deal are finalized, the sale will then go to the NBA's Board of Governors for approval.
Sources have put the value of the deal at $280 million for a 90 percent share of the Sixers. This deal does not include the NHL's Flyers, also owned by Comcast-Spectacor and Ed Snider, or the Wells Fargo Center, the arena that currently houses both professional franchises.
The sale of the Sixers was first reported over a month ago, but negotiations and other hurdles stretched out finalization of the deal's terms. Harris' investor group also includes David Blitzer of the Blackstone Group and former Sacramento Kings executive Jason Levien. It's unclear what role, if any, Levien will play in the team's front office, currently run by president Rod Thorn.
This new ownership group has already met multiple times with Thorn.
The NBA is currently in a lockout that is expected to be lengthy. While there is a moratorium on player movement, and communication between teams and players has been shut down, the sale of a franchise can still be completed during the lockout.
Harris, 46, is co-founder of Apollo Global Management, which specializes in leveraged buyout transactions. Harris is worth an estimated $1.5 billion. Levien is a former NBA agent and worked for a short time in the Kings' front office.
--Kate
Each week, Kate will check in from the road and answer fan questions about the Sixers. Click here to ask Kate a question or e-mail her at kfagan@phillynews.com.
For those expecting a move to Vegas, get over it. Nevada has no professional sports teams because it's illegal to take bets on NV teams in NV sports books.— phillygwm- sixers to LV is not true and not based on any sound logic. it is just the fantasy of strangely-anti philly people. like several of the posters above. they feel alot like philly cowboys fans. kind of lame.— fishtown charlie
- Fishtown Charlie: I will ignore your unfair comment that some of us are anti-Philly and look at this from a purely business perspective. Harris (46) and Blitzer (41) are billionaires, the former headquartered in New York and the latter in London, specializing in leveraged buyouts, an arcane but highly lucrative and often ruthless enterprise. They are not fools. But, if reports are correct, then 1. unlike the Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers, they will not control their own stadium, but simply pay rent to Comcast. 2. they will be stuck with the Comcast TV deal with the Sixers, by all accounts not very lucrative. 3. Sixers this past season were last in the NBA for percentage (72.6) of tickets sold per arena and 25th out of 30th in average attendance and lack star power and flexibility. 4. the new owners will be buying the team in the middle of a lockout with no certainly as to when and how it will be resolved. The Sixers do fit the distressed asset model for leveraged buyouts. So posters have a right to wonder what Harris and Blitzer intend to do with that asset. Are they budding Mark Cubans who wish to turn around this moribund franchise, albeit demanding a new arena, or will they look to sell the team once the lockout ends for a tidy profit to potential ownership groups in other cities, if not Las Vegas, then elsewhere. Fair question, in my opinion, particularly as during my lifetime I have seen many franchises move (and Leonard Tose almost moved the Eagles to Phoenix and Jeff Lurie might well have considered moving them to L.A. had he not blackmailed the city into a new stadium). I am not pleased that the Inquirer has done so little investigative reporting on this sale.— chuckw
- now they can be moved and rid Philly of the NBA.— cnova000
- I hope this new ownership group is interested in actually winning championships... More youths in Philadelphia play Basketball than any other sport. Even if basketball is not their primary sport,(like how a lot of Italian South Philly kids play baseball 1st and everything else is secondary), the amount of organized or casual basketball going on at a given time far exceeds the other sports. Its the easiest and cheepest sport to play in the city. So it would really be nice for Philly kids to have a pro team of its own to admire and cheer for, rather than get excited about out of town teams...
Comment removed.- there's no way they'll move the sixers. there's a huge potential crowd of FRONTRUNNERS who will pay to watch them if they do well.— Leegles
- CW---i go with the "flip the team" idea.Build traffic-sell most of it -keep a little for perks--potential biz deals etc--get their funds and thensome back..........Leveraged buyout specialists with a new yoy.— HO HUM
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
