The Los Angeles Lakers are set to make history, with ESPN's Shams Charania reporting that the Buss family will be selling the franchise to Mark Walter for a valuation of approximately $10 billion, marking the most expensive sale for a North American sports franchise in history.
The Lakers bested their longtime rivals, the Boston Celtics, for the most expensive sale in American sports history. The Celtics were recently sold to Bill Chisholm for a record $6.1 million earlier this year, but now Walter and the Lakers are topping that number by several billion dollars.
With the sale of the Lakers, here's an updated look at the 10 most expensive sales of an American sports franchise in history.
Most Expensive Sales of American Sports Franchises
|
Team |
Price |
Year of Sale |
New Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Los Angeles Lakers |
$10 billion |
2025 |
Mark Walter |
|
Boston Celtics |
$6.1 billion |
2025 |
Bill Chisholm |
|
Washington Commanders |
$6.05 billion |
2023 |
Josh Harris, Harris Ownership Group |
|
Denver Broncos |
$4.65 billion |
2022 |
Walton-Penner family ownership group |
|
Phoenix Suns & Mercury |
$4 billion |
2022 |
Matt Ishbia |
|
Dallas Mavericks |
$3.5 billion |
2023 |
Miriam Adelson, Patrick Dumont |
|
Charlotte Hornets |
$3 billion |
2023 |
Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall |
|
New York Mets |
$2.4 billion |
2020 |
Steve Cohen |
|
Brooklyn Nets |
$2.35 billion |
2019 |
Joe Tsai |
|
Carolina Panthers |
$2.275 billion |
2017 |
David Tepper |
Over the past five years, the most expensive sports franchise sale has jumped from Steve Cohen purchasing the Mets for $2.4 billion in 2020 to Walter now buying the Lakers for $10 billion in 2025. The Mets do remain the largest sale of a franchise in MLB history.
The leap began with the Denver Broncos franchise getting sold to the Walton-Penner family ownership group for $4.65 billion in 2022. Later that year, Robert Sarver agreed to sell the Phoenix Suns and Mercury to Mat Ishbia for $4 billion, the largest sum in NBA and WNBA history at the time.
The Washington Commanders brought the sale price up to $6.05 billion in 2023 when a group led by Josh Harris purchased the franchise from Dan Snyder. Though the Celtics and now Lakers have topped this number, it remains the largest sale of an NFL franchise all-time.
