During his illustrious Lakers career, Magic Johnson made jaw-dropping assists appear regular. Now, the Hall of Fame point guard hopes to accomplish so through sports ownership.
According to Sportico, Johnson has teamed up with Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Josh Harris to bid for the Denver Broncos. The Broncos were placed up for sale earlier this offseason by the Bowlen family, who had owned the franchise for 38 years.
Johnson, 62, is a part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball and the Los Angeles Sparks of the National Women’s Basketball Association.
Under Johnson’s leadership, the Dodgers snapped a 30-year World Series drought in 2020. Johnson had witnessed the Sparks win their third title, and their first since 2002, four years before.
Last August, Forbes valued the Broncos at $3.75 billion, which means the franchise may very well sell for north of $4 billion.
“Selling an NFL team is a complex process involving numerous parties and league approval procedures,” Broncos president and CEO Joe Ellis said in a statement earlier this offseason.
“Nonetheless, the trustees hope to have the sale completed by the start of the 2022 NFL season. The Broncos are a special franchise that is part of the fabric of this region, and whoever emerges as the new owner will certainly understand what the team means to our great fans and this community.”
The NFL has come under fire for a lack of diversity in its ownership ranks, and each Broncos bid group is likely to include minority investors.
That’s tough to mandate in an estate auction, since trustees have a fiduciary duty to sell to the highest qualified bidder, but commissioner Roger Goodell recently stated that he felt the procedure might accomplish both purposes.
It’s unknown how much money Johnson is putting into the bid organisation. Johnson did not respond to a request for comment right away. The Broncos, Harris, and Allen & Company, which was hired to sell the franchise, all declined to comment.
The Broncos are likely to break the record for the most money ever spent for a sports club, surpassing Joe Tsai’s $3.3 billion purchase of the Brooklyn Nets and the rights to manage the Barclays Center in a deal finalised in 2019.
The club was reportedly valued at $3.8 billion by Sportico.
Johnson, 62, went on to become a successful businessman after leaving the NBA in 1996. Aside from the Dodgers, he’s made money in real estate and franchising movie theatres, Starbucks outlets, fast food restaurants, and gyms.
He is on the Fanatics board of directors and is an investor in esports company aXiomatic, the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, and MLS team LAFC!
