The quiet, deep-pocketed proprietor of the Dodgers is taking up the Los Angeles Lakers for an eye-watering $10 billion – and he’s anticipated to shake up the crew.
Mark Walter, a shrewd investor who co-founded Guggenheim Companions and whose web value is reported as $12.5 billion by Bloomberg, simply paid the best worth ever for a professional sports activities crew — and has a observe report of spending huge on expertise.
He hiked payrolls massively nearly instantly after taking up the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, and the crew is projected to spend a whopping $476 million this season in payroll and luxurious taxes.
Whereas that sum seems astronomical, consultants credit score 65-year-old Walter — who’s at present CEO of Guggenheim spinoff TWG International — for investing it shrewdly.
In 2023, the Dodgers signed a historic $700 million contract with Japanese participant Shohei Ohtani. A surprising $680 million of that’s put aside as deferred cost, for the reason that MLB has no limits on delayed pay, giving Ohtani a technical annual wage of $2 million.
It additionally retains Ohtani in contract for 10 years till he’s 39 — and the Dodgers received the World Sequence final yr.
“A key difference between baseball and basketball is that you can’t simply outspend everyone on payroll the way the Dodgers do,” an NBA govt informed The Athletic, for the reason that NBA has a lot stricter payroll restrictions for gamers.
“But what most people overlook is how much the Dodgers invest beyond just players. They spend at an elite level on infrastructure: front office talent, analytics and player development. Each area is essentially run by a GM-level executive, enabling them to retain top-tier personnel across the board.”
Thus far, in the meantime, the Lakers’ investments of their entrance workplace and training expertise have been comparatively modest, as the scale and spending of their basketball operations division has been dwarfed by smaller opponents.
Walter ought to theoretically match proper in on the Lakers, which has traditionally prioritized star expertise – like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The sale of the crew comes as Luka Doncic, the 26-year-old prodigy who joined the Lakers earlier this yr, is eligible for a four-year, $229 million contract extension in August. With out that pay, he may go away in July 2026.
The Lakers scooped up Doncic after the Dallas Mavericks made a shock transfer to commerce him — deciding in opposition to shelling out the $345 million he would have been eligible for if he stayed.
However in some methods, the “hard part” is already behind the Lakers. They’ve gained a star participant, and a multi-million-dollar contract is just not so scary for billionaire Walter.
The crew, which final received an NBA title within the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season, had one of many highest payrolls within the NBA final season at $192 million, in line with HoopsHype.
It’s additionally controversial that the Lakers are in a lot better form than the Dodgers have been when Walter took over.
Frank McCourt had left the baseball crew’s funds in disarray and despatched attendance plummeting. He’s broadly been blamed by followers for “ruining” the crew.
However Walter pulled off a turnaround, bringing in Magic Johnson because the face of the brand new possession crew, hiring Stan Kasten as crew president and signing checks for big-name expertise.
Adjustments to the Lakers received’t be quick, as Jeanie Buss – daughter of Jerry Buss, who purchased the Lakers in 1979 – is predicted to remain on as governor and proceed operating the crew for a couple of years.
Sports activities groups have been altering arms extra incessantly, with one-third of the NBA taking up new possession since 2019, and crew valuations have skyrocketed.
Walter, in some methods, arrange the sale years in the past, when he took a minority stake within the crew in 2021 and obtained the primary proper of refusal to any sale by the Buss household.
“I think [Walter] does everything he can to provide resources, support,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts informed The Athletic. “He wants to win.”
