Dodgers owner Mark Walter reportedly looking to sell WNBA’s Sparks for $700 million after Lakers, Chelsea FC sales
The 700 million valuation includes a newly built $150 million practice facility in a valuable real estate era in Los Angeles https://sparks.wnba.com/news/la-sparks-announce-a-150m-investment-in-state-of-the-art-practice-facility-to-open-in-time-for-the-2027-season
I might be more liquid than this guy right now
He might have more liquid in his body than he does assets
How many assets is one supposed to have in their body
Well how much are livers and spleens going for nowadays
I don’t know. But I bet you can buy a solid gold buttplug. But you need a tight ass for that and I don’t think a tight ass would buy a gold butt plug
Plasma’s worth something
Considering he’s accused of using policy holders premiums to fund these purchases and act as a proxy for his “liquidity” you’re probably correct
older people have a lower percentage of water in their body, so probably
Make me liquid Jaime
Crazy timeline to be in …
I can’t wait for the doc on all the background stuff this guy did
Titled “You Can Defer Everything”
More accurate would be “You Can’t Defer Everything”
You Can(not) Defer Everything
I think simply “Deferred Payment” would be a good title.
The Defererer. Er
The documentary will enter a paid “early access” phase that never ends. But surely there will be more content eventually…
What if I told you, you can can’t defer everything
It will be titled “Buy Now, Pay Later”
You ripped off the title of one of the biggest movies in America lmao
“Every owner could commit financial fraud using teacher pensions, your team just has a bad owner”
Our owner just had discrimination lawsuits : (
Let me tell you about the Reds in the 80s.
We swapped the “too conveniently oblivious about their buddy’s Ponzi Scheme” Wilpons for the insider trading of Cohen.
It will be a ten part, ten hour mini series.
Sponsored by Fanduel
All I need is to own an insurance company, illegally borrow all the reserves and then I’ll own the Sparks!
And the next Pablo Torre Finds Out episode
To our current knowledge, we only have ONE of the most incredible compilations of crimes against humanity, the Epstein Files. Think of how many other stockpiles these scum have. He must have some incredible dirt on him. The world would burn if we found out what these people are doing and how deals get made
“So there’s this translator, right?”
Pablo Torre is investigating him. If it ends up like Kawhi it will be a 20 part podcast series
Make sure that the script is made by Google Docs.
Why do you need a doc, you are experiencing it now in real time
He’s no different than any other billionaire.
Another actual win for the SEC
It just means more…..wait a minute
SEC SEC SEC
BIG if true.
Wait a minute, I’m being told to give Michigan 1 second back on the clock
Unfortunately that’s only a dent in the amount of funds he has to collect. I believe he’s still a couple billion away
He is going to be running Cinnabon in Omaha at this rate
He’s gonna try and sell everything else before the Dodgers. That one is the last result for him.
Edit: Resort
Let’s just hope it gets to that point
Only after he’s forced to sell off all his players.
He only owns 27%
But, if I remember correctly, other owners like Magic Johnson were connected to several of the companies given insurance payouts.
Last resort
Yeah I messed it up. Thanks for catching me on that.
But it’s kind of interesting that his price tag for the Sparks is the same he paid for Shohei.
He’s gotta sell Ohtani next
That’s one Ohtani
I know it won’t happen, but imagine Walter has to sell Ohtani Babe Ruth style, I can just see everyone else in r/baseball creaming their trousers at the possibility lol
Shohei Ohtani, you are a Colorado Rockie.
Get ready for Rocktober!
This implies that the Rockies would be willing to spend money.
Need Molson Coors to step in and do the funniest thing ever.
Couldn’t they just defer it?
Their fans absolutely would be willing to go, it would save their franchise
600 ft HRs
If he isnt pitching he isn’t worth $700 million
That’s maybe true from a baseball perspective.
But from a business perspective? He absolutely is. He brings in a whole market with him. Dodgers have a separate fandom/media section that just focuses on Shohei and every single thing he does, it’s crazy. He is a legit goldmine.
Also sidenote: How the Angels managed to fumble this aspect of him still baffles me to this day.
I really don’t understand how baseball fans choose to ignore this. Japanese tourists are the only ones who go to Dodgers Stadium when they visit LA
What a great financial investment that lets you pay crazy things like Tucker’s 60 mil / year
700 million deferred is 460 million every year adjusted (what they actually pay into escrow each year). FA war is about 1 per 10 million dollars right now. 4.6 war per year as a batter over the next 7 years isn’t that crazy to expect and that’s before you factor in the marketing aspect.
And 10⁄460 is comparable to the Vlad deal (14⁄500) and Trout deal (12⁄426).
It’s also less than because he’s been almost doubled the WAR/year value of his contract for the first 3 years. He has given himself a lot of leeway
Marketing wise he absolutely is.
He’s barely pitched and he’s been worth 25 fWAR already for the Dodgers in 3 years
How many seasons into Soto’s contract will it take for him to reach that, let alone what Ohtani’s total will end up being at the end of his contract
Interesting logic. So because Soto isn’t playing up to his contract it justifies Ohtani not living up to his? Why not drag Trae turner in here too?
If he’s hitting .175 he ain’t worth $700 million, either.
That sounds awesome
Delete this.
Kroenke buys his contract for a big splash for his new team
Finally getting on that plane to Toronto
I would
Honestly. Fuck you.
You’re getting downvoted because you didn’t say “fuck you” nicely enough. Try adding “friend” to the end.
I mean it’s one Ohtani, Michael. What could it cost? 700 million dollars?
So what’s next? Spire Motorsports? The Dodgers?
The most he could do is sell his stake in the Dodgers most likely to someone else and then Guggenheim would have someone else take over his role as the face of ownership. So really, not much would change unless every other owner share decides to sell as well.
Magic would also need to sell, and potentially others. Magic’s entity is also linked to these self dealing sets of loans via Guggenheim
What is his ownership share in the Dodgers?
Bloomberg puts his ownership stake at 27%
27%, very replaceable tbh
Replacement level owner
ya, that’s not how selling businesses works.
every shareholder of McDonalds would not have to agree to SpaceX buying McDonalds.
“But those are not the same thing!’
i’m aware of that, no comparison between two things is every 100% the same. but they are the same in the way that i mean. all shareholders would not have to agree, for the same reason.
That person didn’t say that everyone would have to agree
not much would change unless every other owner share decides to sell as well.
The racing teams are only owned slightly by him. I believe Dan Towriss is the main owner of them
The Dodgers are washed, so probably.
What does that make the Braves then?
Super washed.
How much detergent does that require
Extra cycle
$700 million for a WNBA franchise? Is that… realistic?
Last sale was \(300m,expansion fees are\)250m, based on that I’m guessing the LA team should be worth at least $500m
Glen Taylor just sold the Timberwolves AND the Lynx for 1.5 billion. And the Lynx probably have top 5 fandom in the W. (Ignore the fact that Taylor was fleeced…)
I just sold a beachside mansion and a pencil for 21 million
Fuck, that pencil is incredible.
Can write upside down better than any pen
What I wouldn’t do for one of those things
Hell I’d sell you mine for only $1 million
Did the timberwolfs include Air Bud? If so that price makes sense.
No.
Did they forget a decimal point?
$70.0 million?
For a LA franchise, yeah. Bottom of the market for WNBA teams is about 400 mil now, top is around 800 to 1B. The league got a new media deal and viewership is up massively (30+% growth in 24⁄25, 20+% growth in 25⁄26), the top teams are very profitable.
Look up the Valkyries numbers. They have better attendence and have higher ticket prices than the bottom of the NBA, like the men’s league.
Absolutely no way a WNBA team is worth nearly half a billion dollars lol
Connecticut sold earlier this year for 300 million and that didn’t include real estate because that was to move the team to Houston. Then the WNBA had a great year this year as their new very lucrative media deal with Disney went into play. Revenue has grown so much their salary cap jumped from 1.5 million to 7 million, over a 350% jump, in a single CBA negotiation.
This is LA with LA real estate. 500 million is on the low end. Like the very top of the league, the GS Valkyrie are valued at 750 mil on the low end and 1B at the high end from discussions amongst bankers and private equity firms.
Again you guys are stuck in 5 years ago. Update your numbers. Or you can stick your fingers in your ears and ignore reality bc idk that makes you feel superior or something
Cook 🔥🔥
Deal to keep the Sun in New England was for \(325 million but the league wouldn’t approve it and forced them to take the lower deal. So the floor is really \)325 mil.
Disney will bancrupt offering such a lucrative media deals for wnba
Based on what?
I just hope the PWHL doesn’t fold because of his stupid bullshit
Not a chance. But if this had all broken out two years ago, it could have been rough.
It’s rather obvious in hindsight that Walter bringing on the Illitch and Tannenbaum families as the first outside investors was primarily him trying to get some quick cash to try and keep his house of cards upright. But by the same token, that’s two billionaires who are now directly involved and which have a Rolodex full of very rich hockey people to call on.
League just needs to get all their teams to have individual owners and it’ll live. If he was keeping the league for himself where he owned everything it would be worse.
Well I don’t follow things too closely but it seems like theres a lot of demand for PWHL games. With the WNBA, a lot of the game suffers just because they have a major height disadvantage and their hands are much smaller (on average). Whereas with hockey the biological differences mostly come down to athelticism in general.
For whatever reason (maybe because of popularity of hockey here) it just seems like there’s a lot more excitement towards the PWHL than the WNBA had in its begining. They seem to sell out arenas often and already in their 3rd season seem to be close to the attendance level of the wnba which is almost in its 30th year. Maybe the wnba deserves credit for paving the way and times are different but I dont get the impression that the pwhl struggles to grow the game, if anything they force themselves to grow slower than demand.
I think you have to be a little more charitable to the WNBA here. Yeah, if you compare 1:1 attendance numbers in the first couple seasons between the leagues then yeah, the PWHL looks a lot better.
But widespread public attention on women’s pro team sports was basically nothing in the mid 90s. Attention for women’s sports in the 90s were basically totally wrapped up in individual sports like tennis or figure skating. WNBA and the international soccer and hockey teams all started the ball rolling for woman’s team sports on the period but it was kind of just beginning to take off.
There’s a much larger market now for the PWHL, in part because of the WNBA. There are more than one failed women’s pro leagues for hockey in the time the WNBA has been around.
Agreed if Mark Walter becomes insolvent PWHL will probably survive by selling teams to individual owners as there’s an demend for their games and bankruptcy courts will oversee the sales as they want the most money as possible.
The WNBA deserves immense credit for how long it has persevered to slowly grow the profile of women’s professional sport in North America. It laid the groundwork for leagues like the PWHL and NWSL to thrive. And, hopefully, the NSL also.
For women’s hockey, its visibility has grown immensely since the first Olympic tournament in 1998 and the Canada-US showdown series every year has shown the effectiveness of barnstorming as a promotional tactic.
The PWHL came along in the right moment, in the right markets, and whatever his other flaws, Walter gave the league the professional look that its semi-pro predecessors lacked. Even so, I don’t think they imagined they would be averaging 9300 a game by year three. And it would be higher if Toronto and Boston weren’t hamstrung by arena size.
No one wants to admit it but the reason women’s leagues are gaining popularity is because of sports betting
Can confirm, just saw a post in r/Detroit about their new PWHL team’s uniforms and everyone is super excited to have them. It’s a hockey town, after all.
PWHL has hype in part because of the work WNBA did laying the foundation for pro womens sports. It took a long time but they proved there was a market that got people to invest in NWSL and PWHL and PWHL especially hit the ground running.
Also the WNBA was held back by the double edged sword of NBA ownership where NBA money did help them survive but NBA treated it more as a way to market the NBA to girls than as a legit league and it took a long time to grow out of that.
Same
They should be fine. I’d be surprised if Walters sold his stake in it at all considering the value of the PWHL wouldn’t even make a dent in the amount he needs to come up with.
Even if he went bankrupt there’s other wealthy investors involved with the league who will surely step in given the increasing popularity of women’s sports. It’s too good of an investment to pass on right now with relatively little risk
There’s a Pretty Women Hockey League?!?
Yeah but it was big mistake. BIG HUGE!
Can’t wait to see the Pablo Torre investigation into this.
Good news, he’s already been working on it!
Liquidator’s throwing hands to do whatever it takes to keep this thing goin. 🤷♂️
$700 million for a wnba franchise is just crazy lol. Who tf is cooking the books
He brought it for $10m 12 years ago. Sure the league is a lot more valuable financially now than back then, but that’s a 7000% increase in 12 years. Lol what?!?!
$150m in real estate but still
Connecticut Suns sold earlier this year for 300 million, and that was to move the team to Houston.
This is LA with LA real estate.
Yeah I’m stumped
And a huge chunch of that valuation of the team and sports in general is BECAUSE of this dude buying shit for zillions of dollars.
Sports the business is so valuable on paper but converting that value to cash is such a hit or miss proposition. Fandoms and trends change and other then media rights deals, tickets, and the dog shit excuse for merch that US teams put out there (My only experience for merchis baseball and football so if there are teams or leagues out there doing great merch lmk) they find it hard to make money.
Private equity always assumes that they can squeeze blood from that particular Stone harder and more efficiently then anyone else but damn it’s just there fam.
The value includes a brand new 150mil practice facility
So $200 million seems realistic.
Ippei: 👀
The average WNBA franchise in 2026 is valued at roughly 450 million. The top of the league is valued at 750M-1B. The Connecticut Sun sold early this year for 300 million and this season was a giant success for the WNBA.
https://greyjournal.net/hustle/finance/wnba-franchise-valuations-2026/
2024 there was a new media deal, then expansion fees went from 50 mil to 250 mil. From 24 to 25 viewership grew 34%, and then from 25 to 26 viewership grew another 20.5%. Revenue is up massively and at the top teams of the WNBA, so we’re talking GS Valkyries, NY Liberty, Indiana Fever, or Seattle Storm, are actually profitable and have been generating a profit for a couple years now.
Like the Valkyries have better attendance number and higher ticket prices than a lot of NBA teams if you go by the numbers.
ya’ll are stuck in like 5 years ago get with the times old man
Thank you! Some people like to stay stuck in the “old days.”
Valkyries net worth is estimated at $1B and they’re only two years old in a smaller market, WNBA ratings are up massively thanks to all the storylines
That smaller market is the LGBT capital of America so their demand for women’s basketball is massive. And they own the arena which inflates the value like the Warriors
Who is watching? Genuinely
2.1 million people watched game 1 of the finals
That’s honestly incredible
Literally my boomer father. Says the “girls” play like the nba used to. Apparently there’s lots of ball movement, fundamental below the rim gameplay and they’re pretty physical. Guy bleeds for the Fever
You know what. Fairs. The nba has become a joke re: fundamental basketball
Tons of people. You can check out clips of the playoffs on youtube. The arenas are packed. I know it’s hard for the WNBA to shake the stigma of no one caring about it, but it’s made remarkable strides in just the last few years. They have legit stars that casuals and even non fans know. You couldn’t really say that even 5 years ago.
A lot of people 😁 Finals have been sold out for both Valkaries and Dream
Viewership is up 30%.
Valkyries colors have been everywhere in SF the last two years.
People who enjoy it?
A lot of people,
Valkyries merch is everywhere. Tickets are some of the hottest in town. Not really a comp.
The storylines are reality tv levels of plot of inter-league bitchery and mean girls energy. It’s antithetical to successful competitive sports because of the next generation of players that creates. Attitudes and play styles are imprinted on the next generation of players. WNBA has a decade before they mature and storylines are about the sport and not about the players having the temperaments of a high school players
Weird comment. Would you want someone talking about your daughter that way?
Insane that you’re getting downvoted. Weird ass misogynists in this sub
For fucking real, I hate being a woman on the major sports subs sometimes
Eww the misogyny. Would you say that to the women in your life? Gross.
Sell the dodgers next coward
He owns 27%, so that is all he could sell.
Someone’s smoking a big Crack pipe.
They are at most worth 350 million dollars.
They only had 28 million in revenue. Magic Jojnson said the sparks have been unprofitable since 2014.
I’ve never seen somebody SCRAMBLING for cash this bad or fast and I’m a regular at a casino. Dude must know he is royally boned and needs liquidity yesterday. But sure, let’s believe the Dodgers are run by legitimate means.
He was playing a humongous game that effected a lot of ppl future finances without telling the full truth.
It’s about the long pull. They are intertwined with the NBA and will continue to be so.
It’s not exactly shocking either, the NBA has been around for a long time, they’ve likely hit market saturation in the U.S. amongst guys (hence the emphasis on overseas development), but women are still a barely scratched market.
Getting women to “buy-in” and watch the WNBA will have spillover into the NBA.
The money the NBA invests in the WNBA is basically marketing money - but it also carries significant community goodwill with it too.
Since the NBA is already aggressively going after international fans, there’s really not a better place place to put their money that’s going to give a bigger return.
Yeah I wonder if the WNBA may be more of a thing as the next generation of kids grows up. Like at the very least they’re aware of Caitlin Clark. Now that the league actually has a few mainstream stars, it could really accelerate its growth.
They have a new, very lucrative media deal, viewership grew 30+% in 24⁄25 and then another 20+% in 25⁄26. The top teams are already profitable. The Golden State Valkyries have better ateendence and higher ticket prices then the bottom of the NBA. Look up the numbers. Revenue grew so much that their salary cap went from 1.5 million to 7 million in a single CBA negotiation.
That acceleration is already happening. The last sale of a WNBA team went for 300 million and that was Connecticut earlier this year with no real estate since it was purchased to move the team to Houston, this is LA with LA real estate. Ya’ll are stuck in 10 years ago.
Absolutely could. Getting women to care/watch basketball post-high school/College is the tricky part. It’s a lot easier to be a fan of the sport/games when you also play them yourself.
Women have so many different forms of entertainment targeted to them in their 20’s/30’s and a person only has so much time for entertainment in a day.
I think the difference between now and say 15 years ago, is that the WNBA was an abysmal product in terms of marketing and coverage. Whereas now it’s far more marketed and accessible, largely due to certain players combined with big NBA investment.
IMO that’s crucial to getting women to keep caring about basketball post-school. So if there was ever a generation that could latch-on, based on pure exposure, these upcoming ones would be it.
Women, by and large, just don’t watch sports because they just don’t care. It doesn’t matter if it’s women playing or men. It’s not the kind of drama they’re interested in.
How the hell is a team that’s lost money for 12 straight years worth anything? 350m is still insane.
It’s just a gamble, and it’s a bold (stupid) one to think that the WNBA will reach the value of an NHL team.
Not just team. League since inception. Nba pumps it with money every year.
Last 2 years the WNBA has grown a lot and the top teams are now profitable. A new media deal went into play this year, revenue strwam have increased in variety and scale, and the top of the league like the GS Valkyrie are now showing better metrics than the bottom of the NBA when it comes to attendence or ticket pricing and have been profitable.
times have changed, your narratives are about 5 years too old.
They’re worth a lot more than \(350 million. The expansion fee is \)250 million so a pre-existing franchise in the second biggest market is worth a lot more than that. Probably not $700 million though.
Because they don’t want to invest. Case in point: Look at the Valkyries.
The Connecticut sun are actually profitable.
But they no longer exist right? Houston next year iirc.
lol he’s in so much shit
Why doesn’t he just buy a pardon for 1/700th of that much?
He was already forced to sell the Lakers to a Kushner. I’m guessing that was to kill the feds case against him. That doesn’t stop the lawsuits and the need to quickly fund his insurance companies so they don’t collapse. Since he couldn’t afford the Dodgers and their payroll without crimes - there’s no way he survives without selling most of his share.
He tried to with a championship ring.
Pardons are 2 million
Okay, 1/350th of that much?
😂😂😂😂 An underappreciated comment.
Has someone paid for a pardon before? What makes you say this.
Sell high
Buy high. Sell low.
Shoutout to r/wallstreetbets
To be fair, this ownership group bought the Sparks for like $10m in 2014. They invested a lot of money in the team but it’s still netting a fat return.
San Antonio Sparks
San Antonio Secrets (shoutout Charles Barkley)
Oh this dude is f’ed
It’s only a crime if you don’t profit
Does he get it all up front or is most of it deferred for ten years?
I am tired of the people on many chats saying “what there is still a WNBA team in xxx city” or letting some people ruin things by being internet junkies about things that are only to make them overshadow the WNBA.
I am hopeful that maybe someone buys the team and they improve over their not so good last few seasons. I wish the same for my home market team the Storm.
The Dream is strong in Atlanta!!!!
Definitely a growing trend there, for sure.
I live in Seattle, root for the Storm, and strangely enough have been to 2 Braves games (2019 NLDS vs St. Louis when Martin got hurt during warm up in G1 but was 3 seats for from Huddy in game 2!). I grew up in SoCal in the 80s hating the Dodgers and being meh on the Angels after Ryan left).
I mean that’s cool and all, but it’s hard to see the valuation here as being remotely correct. Critiquing the value of the asset is not the same as making fun of the WNBA or the team, it’s just being realistic.
I know that Forbes or one of those finance mags/sites said that SF and I think LV teams were valued at 1B and I just don’t see that…yet. I mean with sports team in general there is the scarcity rule or whatever it is called. I know teams will go for what someone will pay for them. I know the pro pickleball teams were fetching millions of dollars by stars and athletes and we saw the 3x3 women’s league paying higher salaries and getting TV contracts. Definitely not something my pocket change can afford. My only thing is owning a few share of the Braves :)
The fact of the matter is the Connecticut Sun sold earlier this year for 300 million and that was with no real estate since that was to move the team to Houston.
This is an LA team, with new LA real estate. 700 mil being considered unrealistic is only because you guys haven’t updated your numbers to the actual reality of today.
the wnba has grown massively. they have a new media deal with disney. viewership has grown 30+% and then another 20+% over the last 2 seasons. revenue has grown so much that the salary cap went from 1.5 million to 7 million, a 366% increase in a single cba negotiation.
The GS Valkyrie, which is the team that’s valued the highest has higher attendance and higher ticket prices than the bottom of the NBA.
so why is 700 million unrealistic? is it because maybe you just didn’t look up the facts that you don’t see it yet?
What did this guy do?
he’s broke. He was bankrolled the womens’ baseball league too. Wonder how much trouble they’re in