The Los Angeles Lakers are set to make history, with ESPN's Shams Charania reporting that the Bussfamily 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.
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.
More NBA on Sports Illustrated