SBJ Unpacks: Mark Walter’s $10 billion offer for Lakers changed Buss family’s planning

Tonight in Unpacks: At $10 billion, Dodgers owner Mark Walter made Jeanie Buss and her family an offer they could not refuse, even as they were prioritizing estate planning and considering a sale, SBJ’s Tom Friend reports.

Also tonight:

• Rob Manfred: National media rights deal key to boosting MLB team values
• Forum: Focus on fun keeps Bananas’ business booming
• Dana White: TKO’s boxing venture named Zuffa Boxing
• Op-ed: Women’s sports changing the game for female workers, parents

Listen to SBJ’s most popular podcast, Morning Buzzcast, where Josh Carpenter discusses the hockey dynasty-in-the-making in Florida, the NBA Finals seeing a 19% downturn in viewership, a consequential day for the PGA Tour and more.

PUBLISHING NOTICE: SBJ Unpacks will not publish Thursday, June 19, in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. It will return Friday, June 20. SBJ Football will also not publish in observance of the holiday and return Friday, June 20.

Mark Walter’s pending $10B purchase of the Lakers was an offer that controlling owner Jeanie Buss could not refuse at a time the Buss family had prioritized estate planning and had begun to contemplate a sale, sources said Wednesday.

“I believe it’s a good day for the family, and [Dr. Jerry Buss] is smiling down from heaven,” said a source close to the franchise, confirming that the Buss family will retain roughly 15% of the team.

The late Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers in 1979 -- along with the NHL’s Kings and the Forum -- for $67.5M, but the latest deal does not include Crypto.com Arena, which sources said makes the sale price even more staggering. In 2021, Walter, (CEO and chairman of TWG Global) and his associate, Todd Boehly, purchased a 27% stake in the Lakers from Phil Anschutz, along with the right of first negotiation for a majority investment. “I believe that was common knowledge he would exercise that,” a source said of Walter.

The sense at that time was that the Buss Family Trust --which still owned 66% of the team --would eventually sell the franchise, and Walter’s $10B offer simply expedited matters. The deal would far exceed the pending sale of the Celtics for $6.1B to Bill Chisholm. Unlike the Celtics, the Lakers have an enormous, long-term local TV deal that is guaranteed through 2032 and is the envy of every NBA franchise.

The Lakers’ local TV deal with Spectrum Sportsnet was worth a league-high $184.71M this past season and grows incrementally to $192.1M in 2025-26, $199.78M in 2026-27, $209.76M in 2027-28 and $218.14M in 2028-29. By contrast, the Celtics’ local TV deal with NBC Sports Boston is for $53.97M in 2025-26, $55.92M in 2026-27, $57.94M in 2027-28 and $60.04M in 2028-29.

RELATED: Breaking down Mark Walter’s major moves in sports, philanthropic causes

Walter, who owns the Dodgers, also inherits a stable 20-year-plus lease agreement with Crypto.com Arena that was fortuitously signed during the pandemic. He is expected to bring Magic Johnson, the former Lakers star who also is an investor with the Dodgers, into a management or advisory position with the franchise, while Jeanie Buss is expected to remain as governor indefinitely.

“I think you may see a lot of Dodger tie-in at Crypto as the [Dodger and Laker] seasons only have two small windows of overlap in spring and fall,” a source said. “Let’s see what Walter does with players and team staff ... and does he create synergy between the Dodgers and Lakers.”

A top executive from another NBA team said, “I think there is no way to put a price tag on the contribution that Jeanie Buss, her father and family have made to the NBA.”

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred discussed the importance of the next national media rights deal in trying to increase franchise values Wednesday at Braves Investor Day.

All of MLB’s national media rights will be available for bid following the 2028 season.

“We are pursuing a strategy not dissimilar from what the NBA did,” Manfred said, referring to the NBA’s 10-year, $77B deal with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Amazon.

RELATED: Rob Manfred: MLB in ‘three different sets of conversations’ for ESPN’s media rights

MLB league valuations are 4-11x implied revenue multiples, with average franchise values at $2.8B. NBA league valuations are 10-15x implied revenue multiples, with average franchise values at $4.6B.

Baseball has a six-member Committee on Economic Reform featuring Braves owner Terry McGuirk, Dodgers owner Mark Walter, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, Red Sox owner John Henry, Tigers owner Chris Illich and Rockies owner Dick Monfort. The committee gained insight from a small group of bankers who deal in sales of professional sports franchises, including a roadmap of how to unlock unrealized franchise values in baseball. Owners are also weighing the possibility of a salary cap proposal with the CBA set to expire at the end of the 2026 season.

Manfred provided three takeaways:

-- “Because of the changes in the media market, it’s clear we need to have a more national media strategy. And what that means is you’re going to generate more central revenue. When franchises get valued, the more central revenue you have, the higher multiple is applied to the revenues. And the reason for that is simple: They see it as more predictable, as opposed to local things like ticket sales that go up and down. You make these 10-year deals, everybody knows you’re getting X in central money, and that increases the multiple that gets applied.”

-- “We do not have the kind of cost certainty, predictability and competitive balance mechanisms in our player comp system that the three other major professional sports have. That’s just a fact. We’re not at the point where I can tell you the proposal from the clubs in 2026 is going to look ‘X.’ I can tell you we are going to be focused on those topics that I just mentioned.”

-- “The system of revenue sharing that we have in baseball -- I’m probably guilty as charged because I was there when we kind of came up with and implemented this system -- but there’s two pieces of our revenue sharing system that are significant in terms of franchise values: 1. When they value a franchise, they take into account that a large market club has an obligation to pay. Interestingly, they do not give full credit for the money that is received by the small-market club. And the reason for that is it is contractual and it can go away. So there’s a franchise value problem there. 2. I’m not a bigger believer in high tax rates, but the fact of the matter is we have a high marginal tax rate in this plan and literally a big market club like Atlanta, when they earn a dollar they’re giving up 48 cents to the industry. That has created incentives that are not great for us.”

Experience and entertainment — it’s the elixir every sport and event seeks. I thought of that taking in the Savannah Bananas on a Friday night earlier this month at a packed Bank of America Stadium, because founders Jesse and Emily Cole have mastered the recipe at just the right time.

The Bananas are not new, and many fans have been watching their story for a few years. But it’s hard to translate unless you watch it in person, and so many more people are experiencing Banana Ball during this summer tour that has them playing in NFL, MLB, minor league and college venues. The Bananas are simply a bold reimagining of what the fan experience aims to be in sports — fun, unpredictable, personal and, most importantly, accessible and affordable. I have never seen as many children at Bank of America Stadium as I did that night, and I can see why, as there is such an emphasis on kids during the entire show. A few other observations:

• There is constant action, sidebars and skits — even some that aren’t G-rated — including one celebrating dads showing off their bodies amid various dances. There is no dead time or constant TV timeouts, and it features a soundtrack for all generations.

• The two-hour running clock keeps it on schedule and at a steady pace.

• The sheer athleticism of the players, with their trick catches and backflips, shouldn’t be overlooked and is impressive.

• It’s incredibly synchronized and well choreographed, and you have to appreciate the theater of it all.

I spotted families walking over to the stadium as early as 2 p.m. for a 7 p.m. start, decked out in yellow gear. Some spent more than 10 hours at the event. Two groups of parents shared that while it was family friendly, it had enough grit to keep all ages engaged.

Bananas: Part baseball, theater and circus

Jesse Cole says it’s about creating the best fan experience, and it shows. But the business is also very healthy. They do their own ticketing (Fans First Tickets), event production, creative, branding and merchandise, and they smartly put their merch tents just inside entry points so fans line up, shop and buy before entering the venue, all while being greeted by staffers in Bananas gear. It costs a great deal to produce the show, but the simple math of more than 140,000 attendees over two days in Charlotte at the conservatively estimated average ticket price of $50 gets you more than $7 million in ticket revenue alone, before one piece of merchandise is sold. Not bad.

What’s next for the Coles? They never discuss an exit, and why should they? Jesse is a charismatic, super successful promoter, the face of the brand. But how much more can he do? A centralized Banana Ball league will launch next year, with teams in six locations. Scale is creating an entirely new sport that is far beyond just the Bananas, but one that will again focus on entertainment and experience. It hasn’t failed them so far.

FRANK’S MEMORIES: In a recent panel with the Champions Class of 2025, they shared who helped shaped their careers. This week’s profile subject, Frank Vuono, said, without pause, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. As a staffer at the NFL, he remembers receiving typewritten notes, saying “Paul would like to have lunch with you.” So Vuono would join Tagliabue at the Four Seasons Grill and talk business. After Vuono left the NFL in 1993, Tagliabue met with him and said, “I’m going to change the way football is watched. We really need to do something about the fan experience, and about watching games, and we need to build football-centric stadiums.”

Vuono laughs now to think of when NFL teams played in shared facilities and not their own stadiums. “Paul told me, ‘We’re going to have to teach the owners how to market, how to handle naming rights, how to make money off the field in marketing and sponsorship. We’re also going to change the way that ticket revenue gets split up, and give teams a special exemption for club seats and suites. I’m going to recommend you to these teams.’ He changed the business dynamics around the league, and I wound up working for a number of owners, and that was all because of Paul’s help. But the biggest impact was his leadership after Katrina hit New Orleans. He hired me to go down there and keep the Saints in New Orleans, which was one of the best experiences of my life.”

Later, Vuono shared the simple attributes that led to his success, and it struck me. “Work harder than anybody,” he said. “Be the first one in, be the last one out. Be motivational to everybody. You can’t ask people to do things for you if you don’t set a great example. Be a leader, in that sense, and work your ass off. Second, build a team, and be secure in yourself. Be confident, but develop others. Make them better as part of a team, and as a result, the better off I was going to be. Those two things helped make my career.”

Abraham Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

The name of TKO Group Holdings’ new boxing venture will be Zuffa Boxing, Dana White confirmed to SBJ, fulfilling a long-running ambition to have that be the title of his venture into the sport. When TKO, White and Saudi Arabian executive Turki Al-Sheikh announced in March that they were joining forces to start a relationship around boxing, they said the name of the property would be announced later. In the meantime, it’s been loosely and unofficially referred to as “TKO Boxing.” Last week, when the sides formally announced plans for White and TKO to get involved with the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight in September on Netflix, an account that was created last month on X with the handle @Zuffa_Boxing started posting. The account is followed by the official accounts on X of TKO, UFC and White.

White has mused for years about using the name if he ever got into boxing, and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office site shows a range of filings for Zuffa Boxing dating back to at least 2017. That includes a much newer one filed on May 14 this year with the attorney info showing Lauren Dienes-Middlen, who handles IP for TKO and also is SVP & Deputy General Counsel of WWE, according to her LinkedIn page. Zuffa is the name of the company that the Fertitta brothers and White used when they bought UFC in 2001 for $2M. Asked Tuesday if Zuffa Boxing is the name of the new boxing venture, White told SBJ simply: “Yes -- it is Zuffa.”

There have been few additional announcements to come out of TKO about the boxing venture since it was announced, but White said so far things are going “awesome, everything is going good – we had a great call yesterday with Netflix; I’m excited to work with them.” He noted that he had long dreamed about working with a company that could broadcast a fight anywhere on earth with one channel, “and here we are -- my first boxing fight is a once-in-a-lifetime fight with two of the greatest of all time.”

The mega fight is planned for Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, White confirmed Tuesday in a separate interview with Jim Rome. White was talking to promote the launch of UFC BJJ, yet another property he’s starting in the fighting vertical -- this one around the martial art form of Brazilian jiu jitsu -- with the inaugural event slated for next week.

The PGA Tour has extended with another key commercial partner, with AT&T signing a multiyear deal for the Signature event AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. AT&T has sponsored the tournament since 1986, making it the longest-running such partner on tour.

The company’s prior deal expired after this year’s tournament; it had signed one-year renewals in recent seasons. SBJ recently reported on the likelihood that AT&T would renew with the tour.

Specific terms of the deal were not available, but Signature event sponsorships have been going for as much as $25M annually. Truist reportedly is paying more than $200M over seven years for the Truist Championship. Three industry sources estimated AT&T was likely paying at least $25M per year.

AT&T and the tour negotiated the deal directly without agency involvement. There’s a slight shift in next year’s PGA Tour schedule, meaning the Pebble Beach event will be contested two weeks later than it was in 2025.

The Friday night news drop stopped everyone in their tracks.

Administrators, lawyers and coaches scrambled to their cellphones on the evening of June 6, when just after 9pm ET Judge Claudia Wilken approved the terms of the House settlement.

Rakesh Kilaru, a partner at Wilkinson Stekloff and the NCAA’s lead counsel in the settlement discussions, has lived the case for the better part of two years.

So naturally, a ruling came down as he was putting his 6.5-year-old daughter to bed.

“I almost got her to bed,” Kilaru said, starting to chuckle. “She was like 95% of the way there, and then the ping comes up on my phone, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ I actually woke her up a little.”

That Wilken rubber-stamped the settlement earlier this month isn’t a silver bullet for college athletics, but it marks a massive transformation.

Kilaru spoke with SBJ on why the settlement might have such a broad impact and what comes next:

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and legnth.

What does the process look like to execute the House settlement’s terms?

“It’s obviously a huge change, an exciting change, and we’re going to start to see it play out pretty much immediately. ... The forward-looking piece is the 10-year revenue sharing system that eliminates scholarship limits and opens the door for all kinds of new benefits [and] generally limits regulations relative to what existed before -- though, there’s still some areas in which there’ll be ongoing regulatory authority, in particular as a certain NIL transactions, and that’s all going to go into effect pretty much immediately.

“… I’m sure there’ll be some bumps in the road as things get off the ground. A lot of this involves a new regulatory system with a new regulator. It involves new technology and new reporting requirements. But overall, a lot of work’s been done to make sure it’s ready to go on Day 1. If there’s some bumps in the road, then we’ll deal with those as they come up.”

There’s already been an appeal regarding Title IX’s application to the back pay portion of the settlement. What’s your reaction to this?

“This specific objection being the first one that led to an appeal comes as a little bit of a surprise, because it’s related to the allocation of damages. Traditionally, the way to deal with dissatisfaction over the allocation of damages is just to opt-out, as some student athletes did. It’s maybe telling that Judge Wilkin [didn’t hear] an argument on this specific objection at the final approval hearing, perhaps for that reason.

“But with that said, she wrote a really thorough opinion -- 76 pages. It goes out of its way to address every objection and really think through the issues carefully. Ultimately, whoever’s appealing is going to have to show that she abused her discretion, which is a really high standard and gives her a lot of leeway to make the decision that she thinks is right.”

The roster limit piece of the settlement received a significant amount of coverage and push back. Can you walk us through why that was included as part of the settlement?

“One of the things that came up during the discussions organically is the topic of scholarship limits, because scholarship limits are a form of limiting compensation. Basically, they say only a certain number of people can get them. We were open to the idea of scholarship limits going away, which would open the door for there to be substantial new benefits flowing to new groups of student athletes.

“... But there’s really no sport, at least in the U.S. that we’re aware of, that has no form of roster limitation at all. That’s where roster limits are a natural replacement for scholarship limits so that there’s competitive equity among teams, similar rosters on the field, similar numbers of players in a game and so on.”

As this heads toward implementation, what should the average college sports fan know about the House settlement and why it’s important?

“I don’t think it’s going to change the on-field product that much. College sports are hugely popular, and I expect that they’re going to continue to be hugely popular. There are going to be differences in exactly how those differences play out and how schools decide to compete in this new world remains a little unseen. Will everyone continue to be very football and basketball focused? Or will there be certain schools focusing on different sports more? That remains to be seen.

“… There’s still work to be done, and there’ll still be an adjustment period where schools have to feel OK about the rules being enforced to them -- which has become a point of tension in the last few years. But the indications from the commissioners are that schools want the system to work, and that’s certainly everything I’ve seen as I’ve been working on the process of working on the negotiations. It is a better system that I’m optimistic is going to work.”

As a figure in Norse mythology, a valkyrie was known to guide the souls of fallen warriors to an afterlife paradise. The WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries have taken flight and joined their Bay Area NWSL counterpart in helping guide the most recent spate of expansion in professional U.S. women’s sport.

And while more access to women’s sport is certainly a paradise for many, the impact of this expansion is anything but mythical.

In an industry where women are nearly twice as likely as men to name salary limitations as a barrier to their career, our new research shows that the presence of a professional women’s team increases earnings by 20%-30% for local women working in the spectator sport industry.

Such an increase cuts the gender wage gap by nearly half.

We used data from a recent five-year sample (2018-2022) of the American Community Survey, administered by the U.S. Census Bureau. We were able to isolate those who reported working in spectator sport; accompanying geographic data allowed us to identify how many men’s, women’s and other types of sport organizations are present in a worker’s local area. Importantly, to rule out the possibility that any difference in wages was due to differences in worker education, local cost of living or treatment of women workers broadly, we controlled for these factors.

Put simply: The growth of women’s sport is helping level the playing field for female workers across the industry.

This understanding represents a paradigm shift. Women’s sport is not merely at the mercy of industry forces — these teams and leagues are actively shaping their business environments as they grow.

Here is how stakeholders should leverage this.

Cities and leagues should harness women’s sport expansion as an economic driver for women

Beyond how women’s sport is helping redefine compensation for women in the industry generally, perhaps the best insight from this research is that the gender wage gap increasingly closes as the ratio of men’s to women’s teams approaches 50-50 in a given community. That is: More women’s sport teams means less income disparity.

Given this, cities and leagues should understand the role women’s sport expansion could have in driving economic development for women in a local community. This is good news for local planners and bid committee members who are making the case to the city, state and private funders. Investors will benefit from the team appreciating in value and turning profit, while communities receive a quantifiable economic public benefit that advances gender equity in their most prized and visible assets: professional sports teams.

For leagues, this only bolsters the argument for expansion. This data could help support negotiations for favorable tax conditions and lay the groundwork for public-private partnerships to fund expansion — incentives that have historically been reserved for men’s teams.

Brands that want to invest in women’s careers — and parents — should invest in women’s sport

As women’s sport has soared, many have focused on the “business case” for investing in these leagues, teams and athletes. Consider that women’s sport fans are 2.8x more likely to purchase a product when it is endorsed by a female athlete, compared to another influencer. Moreover, one-third of women’s sport fans are more likely to buy from a brand that supports women’s sport. This framing contrasts with earlier years, when investment in women’s sport was sometimes treated as akin to a donation to a good cause.

Our data, and our earlier research, proves that for women’s sport, the choice between doing good and doing well is a false binary. Brands investing in women’s sport will derive meaningful benefits — and they will also, simultaneously, support women in the male-dominated sport workforce. That’s a win-win.

Brands can leverage this, taking the notion of product-endorser “fit” to a new level by telling the story of how their investment also aligns with the sport industry labor force and a community’s economic development.

The impact may be especially significant for moms. Our data show that parents are almost 40% more likely to work in spectator sport if there’s a women’s sport team in the market. This bump is meaningful, suggesting that the presence of women’s sport teams may materially improve working conditions for parents in the industry. This improvement may have the greatest impact for moms, as 53% of women working in sport, compared to 33% of men, recently reported that work-life balance is difficult to achieve. Notably, work-life balance is a catch-all that often includes family obligations that still predominately affect women. Therefore, brands that pride themselves on favorable policies for moms and other parents should strategically align their marketing dollars with women’s sport.

We all win when women make more, parents work

Let’s be clear: These developments are wins for all of us. Closing the gender income gap can help support local and national economic growth. Fair wages provide women and their families with more to save, spend or invest — and improves chances that women will continue working in paid employment, thereby creating a mutually reinforcing cycle of benefits.

The other winner: U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Across all industries, women’s lost wages amounted to $1.6 trillion, or more than 6% of the U.S. GDP in 2022. While the sport industry represents only a modest contributor to this, the industry plays a key role in shaping American society. Trends that start here often spill over to other parts of the economy and broader culture.

And a culture where the gender income gap has dissipated? That sounds like a paradise. It’s a future women’s sport expansion can help guide us to.

Risa F. Isard is an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut. Richard Paulsen is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Jimin Song is a master’s candidate at the University of Michigan. This piece is crafted in partnership with The Collective Think Tank: a global consortium of academic minds and industry leaders focused on gender parity and improving diversity. The collaboration is led by The Collective, Wasserman’s women-focused division.

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