Thorn: Harris wants to 'continue to grow the team'
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Thorn: Harris wants to 'continue to grow the team'
Sixers president Rod Thorn has multiple conversations with the prospective owners in advance of the sale.
Thorn had said it would be business as usual in advance of the draft, although things could potentially change with the new owners set to take over.
"This is my fourth time I’ve been involved in a sale of a team, all of them so far have been different," Thorn said. "Getting a new group and as owners everybody had different ideas how they want to set things up and run things. Until that transpires, you just don’t know until it actually happens.
"In my conversations with Mr. Harris, he seemed to be interested in continuing to grow the team and wanted the team to keep doing well."
An NBA spokesman said there was no timetable for when the sale would be approved. The league will throughouly look at the prospective owners. Typically, though, the timetable has been about 2 months.
EARLIER
The sale of the 76ers is complete.
Comcast-Spectacor announced that a group led by New York billionaire Joshua Harris has purchased the team.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although the figure is reportedly around $280 million.
“We are honored to have the opportunity to be affiliated with this storied franchise,” Harris said in a statement. “As a basketball fan who attended college in Philadelphia, and with family roots here, I have always felt a strong connection to this City and the 76ers. We look forward to helping the 76ers organization build on this past season’s accomplishments in the years ahead. The ownership group also looks forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Comcast-Spectacor.”
According to a news release, the team will remain a long-term tenant of the Wells Fargo Center and will have a long-term cable broadcast agreement for its games with Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. The sale does not impact the ownership of the Flyers, who will remain owned by Comcast-Spectacor and Ed Snider.
Snider will retain a 10 percent interest in the Sixers, but will not have management responsibilities.
A spokesman said Snider will not comment unitl the deal is approved by the NBA Board of Governors. The transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to NBA approval and customary closing conditions.
“While today we have reached an agreement to sell the team, the deal still must have the approval of the NBA’s Board of Governors,” spokesman Ike Richman said. “We will refrain from making any comments until the sale is approved.”
The new ownership also includes David Blitzer, a senior managing director of The Blackstone Group.
“We are excited to become associated with this iconic team and to have the chance to serve the great City of Philadelphia and its loyal basketball fans,” Blitzer, also a Penn grad, said in a news release.
Other members of the investor group include Art Wrubel and Jason Levien.
Levien is a former NBA player agent and a front office executive with the Sacramento Kings.
Wrubel is a new name to the mix, but he is also a Wharton graduate. He is a portfolio manager at Manhattan-based Wesley Capital.
Harris, Blitzer and the other investors are making personal investments; Apollo, of which Harris is a co-founder, and Blackstone are not involved in the transaction.
The Sixers were valued at $330 million, 17th in the NBA, by Forbes earlier this year.
“We are honored to have the opportunity to be affiliated with this storied franchise,”
This is what I like to hear. Getting this franchise out of Ed Snyder's hands is the best thing to happen to this franchise since we we hired Doug Collins a year ago.
Now Snyder can bath himself all he wants in the orange and black without blantently ignoring our basketball franchise.— Imbrianfellows- I hope that the Sixers are not going to move to Long Island! Maybe they will bring back Pat (the Pirate) Croce to get this team to the promised land and beyond. One good thing is no Big Ed Snider!— jpelle36
- Hopefully these guys that help manipulate stocks all day can help manipulate this team to a championship— dragoncjo
- Hopefully the 76ers can get back to the proud franchise it used to be. Bring Pat Croce back, and it wouldn't hurt to have Dr. J come back home either.— madaboutit
- Just amazing comments coming out of Rod Thorn...when he speaks I expect saw dust to come out of that head.— bearsfriend
- Move them to Alaska and rename them the "Eskimos"....nobody in Philly would even know they were gone....— kelprod2
- Apparently you would kelprod2......another malcontent unhappy with your own life and wanting others to feel your misery...Kick rocks!— kevmack
- I wish I could feel the optimism, just sounds like more business as usual. Meet the new boss . . .— EagleEye61
- cant be any worse. I would like to see all our teams owned by billionnaire egomaniac freaks like mark cuban. owners who get emotional and really care!
— depressed - Draft better players and make some smart trades. Sounds easy but few can do it. Key is for these guys to hire smart, hungry young GM who can work well with Collins.— otterstratton
- Corporate takeover specialist that go into companies and steal their pension funds and ruthlessly cut salaires and benefits of the employees. Yeah. Another reason to root for the 76ers. Message to new owners: Please don't get involved in the operation of the team and stay away from the press. We could care less what you think.— MikeP
- Agree w/MikeP........say what you want about Ed and I've been critical - but he has been very good to all his employees and truthfully too generous with many of his players. What the Sixers need is much better GM and Mgmt to match Collins as a coach.........— Northcountry
- If Joshua Harris can finish with his left and shoot the three, I think this deal will help the Sixers tremendously— Fo Fo Fo
- true Sixer fans who remember Wilt,Billy C,Greer,Wally Wonder,Gola,Luke,Chet,Arzin,Toney,Moses,Jones,Doc,Cheeks,Barley,McGinnis any other great players will always care about the franchise that once was so great and so proud. pro basketball today is not the product it was. still remember going to Convention hall and seeing the GREAT games and Great players. never again will see players like Wilt vs Russell battle and actually watching double headers. at times the smoke would be so thick it was hard to watch the game. my Son has told me many times that I saw the best in all sports and he is so right. So thankful for the memories at Conniemack stadium,the Vet,Franklin field,Civic center(convention hall),Spectrum,Palestra. THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!!!!— bill poore
- Bill, you left out Neil John. I saw my first game with them in the early '50s and always cried when Boston or some other team just nipped them for a PO win. Remember George Senesky?— Koons
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
