December 26, 2024
Miami Heat

Two individuals with knowledge of the agreement disclosed on Friday that Tom Gores, the owner of the Detroit Pistons, had consented to buy a 27% share in the Los Angeles Chargers.

The acquisition has not yet been disclosed by the team, so the two insiders talked with AP under condition of anonymity. At their league meetings in Atlanta the following month, NFL owners are anticipated to ratify it.

The NFL franchise that Gores is set to acquire was initially reported to be on the Sports Business Journal.

Bloomberg claims the 60-year-old’s net worth is $11.8 billion. He established Platinum Equity in 1995; the company is based in Beverly Hills. And sixteen years later, he completed the $325 million purchase of the Pistons.

Detroit has only made two postseason trips during his ownership, both of which ended in the first round.

Gores will purchase the 24 percent owned by Dea Spanos Berberian, the sister of controlling owner Dean Spanos, as part of his 27 percent ownership in the Chargers. This includes nine percent from a family trust that owns a 36 percent share in the organization.

For estate planning purposes, he is also buying one percent of shares held by their brother Michael, their other sister Alexis, and Dean.

A nasty three-year dispute between Spanos Berberian and her siblings is resolved by the deal. She attempted to compel a sale and accused the Spanos Trust of breaching its fiduciary duties when she filed a lawsuit against Chargers controlling owner Dean in 2021.

In 2022, she brought legal action once more, accusing her brother of engaging in “misogynistic” behavior, “self-dealing,” and persistent “breach of fiduciary duty.”

Spanos Berberian has committed to settle her conflicts with the family and the franchise in exchange for the sale.

In 2018, Dean and Dea became co-trustees of the trust after Alex and Faye Spanos passed away. Court documents included 2021 financial statements that showed the trust’s ownership of the Chargers to be 83% of its holdings.

Gores’ acquisition follows the NFL owners’ approval on September 1st to let private equity funds to acquire team ownership. That being said, Gores is the one making this transaction; Platinum Equity is not involved.

The Chargers’ average franchise worth for this season is $5.38 billion, based on data from CNBC, Sportico, and Forbes.

Gores will not play a part in the Chargers’ day-to-day operations or have a path to a controlling interest, even though he owns more than a quarter of the team. Four percent of the Chargers are owned by legacy owners from the team’s early San Diego days, while the remaining 69 percent is owned by the Spanos family.

The San Diego Chargers were purchased by Alex Spanos in 1984, and in 1994 Dean Spanos assumed managerial duties.

After attempting to secure a new stadium in San Diego for years, the Chargers relocated to Los Angeles in 2017. The club’s debt is around 14% of its total debt, primarily as a result of the league’s franchise relocation agreement.

Pistons owner Tom Gores buys stake in NFL team a little closer to home -  Detroit Bad Boys

 

The Pistons Center Isaiah Stewart Uses A Retro Media Day Fit To Honor Rasheed Wallace

This past Monday was the Detroit Pistons’ Media Day, where the team, led by Coach JB Bickerstaff, posed for photos against a plain backdrop sporting their new look.

Although the Pistons are not favorites to contend for titles this year, they should be superior to the historically poor team that played under former coach Monty Williams.

Since 2008, the Pistons have failed to win a postseason series and have lost a number of its talented players.

One of them is Stewart, who played in 46 games last season, starting in 45 of them, and averaged 10.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, while shooting nearly 49 percent from the field.

Wearing Nike ‘Air Force One’ type sneakers on Monday, the big guy with the deadeye shooting looked to pay tribute to Pistons veteran Rasheed Wallace, one of the masters of his art.

Detroit Pistons: Isaiah Stewart playing like a modern "Baby Ben Wallace"

Known for donning Air Force Ones, Wallace made headlines in 2004 when the Pistons stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in the NBA Finals, a game that was widely considered to be a “five game sweep.”

This offseason, during discussions about who would win in a hypothetical battle between the Green/Stephen Curry Warriors and Wallace’s 2004 Pistons, Draymond Green, a forward for the Golden State Warriors, taunted the former big man for the Pistons.

 

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