Robert Pera’s goal when buying the Memphis Grizzlies was to move them to Las Vegas, Pablo Torre reports, but he ultimately agreed to a “poison pill” that made relocation impossible.
Fuck Robert Pera. All my homies hate Robert Pera
For sure fuck that guy. I would say it’s good and bad for Memphis that he bought this team cause it seemed like based on the episode that this would be his only chance to own the team and that poison pill was something he accepted due to a lack of leverage. The good is that it seems like there are some steps in place to stop relocation, the bad I would say is that I don’t see them investing the serious money needed for Grizzlies to become a top organization. But if I am from Memphis, I am glad that he ended up rushing into this deal that seems to hamper his ability to relocate. Bad team is better than no team.
Perra is the 3rd richest owner. Theyve went after KD, Butler, Bridges, etc. Seems it dosnt matter how much money you have if your team is located in Memphis.
Kenyon Martin who is known as a enforcer tough guy (by nba standards) basically said even he thinks the city of Memphis is dangerous place to visit as opposing team let alone to play for and that’s probably the reputation it has and why they can’t attract top players to sign there.
Kenyon Martin has never had a decent word to say about Memphis ever since he snapped his leg here in college, ending his team’s championship run. He’s so, incredibly negative about our city that it just feels personal at this point.
I miss back when Cincinnati and Louisville were big rivals.
Its because of the MLK assassination
Damn. I never thought about it, sounds far fetched at first. But when Memphis doesn’t really have that many selling points to a star already, and being the city where MLK was assassinated being one of the reasons you’re known..yeah I could see that.
I bet 90% of the league’s players couldn’t tell you where MLK was assassinated
this snake should sell to the smith family
Well the entire premise is that he would lose out on a lot of money if he does sell and that the smaller Grizzlies share holders would be able to buy him out at that 2012 share price which was 300 million or something. David Sampson does say that the poison pill won’t matter much but that seems to be more speculation than anything.
But didn’t he buy those shareholders out years ago? Or am I confusing them with different minority owners?
From Brian Windhorst in 2022
PERA BOUGHT OUT his two largest minority partners in the Grizzlies in 2018 – he sold \(60 million in stock just before making the deal, which was less than 2% of his holdings at the time -- to increase his stake to more than 50%. The deal valued the team at \)1.2 billion, more than a 200% increase in five years.
I don’t see any updates beyond that, and I am unsure what the current percentages are.
It looks like the 2018 buy outs were Steve Kaplan and Daniel Strauss, neither of whom are from Memphis so likely the “local” investors are still owners and the poison pill still applies.
I think Pablo does good work but I can’t stand David Sampson
I came in here to type out pretty much this exact comment. I don’t really know how Pablo doesn’t understand how having one of the biggest ratfuckers in the 90s sports scene actively hurts his credibility.
Like David “Fuck the Expos” “Miami Marlins” Sampson is the last person I would go to for a solid opinion on sports markets.
Yeah, maybe everything he’s saying is accurate, but just the fact that it is David Samson makes me question literally everything about this.
Shoutout the poison pill
This is two weeks old.
Yes, I believe so. The majority of the episode covers Pera’s company, Ubiquity, who has its equipment show up on Russian front lines in very high and very suspicious numbers. Never claimed it was a new episode. It just that this particular part was rightly overshadowed by that situation.
Ubiquiti*
This is two weeks ago and posted two weeks ago.
Can you link, cause I keyword’d to find any specifics posts and non showed up. The entire episode was posted but all focus towards the Russian equipment stuff which would be bigger news that an owner is supporting Russian invasion in a round about way. This specifically reveals some information not directly posted.
You don’t need to be mad because I am sensing a little hostility. Just remember that a reddit post won’t change whatever the ultimate situation ends up being for Grizzlies. They obviously don’t care about public sentiment in these types of situations.
Bro this is two weeks old didn’t you know? /s
Bro, you don’t look exhaustively into what /u/GotMoFans knows so you don’t bother him? /s
Sports business journal published the RSN payments for the 13 NBA teams with fanduel sports; Miami was getting \(55m, Memphis \)11m. So it’s understandable.
Sigh… okay I’ll buy the Grizzlies. I got $20 and the rights to naming my second child. Let me know if I win.
I’m so tired. Between all of the team drama with the player(s) and the government with the NG/ICE it feels like Memphis is a glorified punching bag these days.
There’s been at least a dozen hit pieces with players and NBA media trashing this city. It’s obvious they want the team moved. Can we please just have one good thing
NBA is incredibly popular and the teams are a finite product. Most cities in North America are clamouring for a team. When you look how long it took to get 2 more slots that are promised to Seattle and Vegas, relocation team is the only option for most cities. And Memphis are at the bottom of that list when it comes to most metrics. I don’t see the relocation talks being quiet the next couple years, until the Memphis pony up the cash to make it worth it and squarely nip it in the bud with a deal that is.
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Who said that? Sampson specifically says that Memphis is not as good a market as Vancouver. It’s just his opinion but he was the president of Marlins for 15 years so I suppose that hold some weight.
Ja in Vegas would be worse than Memphis right?
The Sonics were bought and moved quickly. Did the owners not care because they went to a smaller market?
I still don’t understand why Vegas is the goal. Arn’t raiders games basically home games for the opponents or is that the point. Sports is the only thing that will get people to come to Vegas these days.
Gambling. The league partners are in the gambling business and Vegas is all about that. Not a technical answer but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is along the lines of the truth.
I’m sick of this guy