The Los Angeles Lakers have been sold twice in just over a year, and the second deal has shattered every previous record for a professional sports franchise in the United States.
In June 2025, Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter bought a majority stake in the Lakers from the Buss family in a deal that valued the team at $10 billion. That transaction was itself a record at the time. Earlier this month, Walter sold that majority equity to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger in a deal valued at $12.5 billion, according to CNBC, making it the most expensive team purchase in U.S. sports history.
The two Lakers transactions sit at the top of a broader wave of surging sports team valuations. Last week, private equity firm Arctos agreed to buy 10% of the Atlanta Falcons in a deal that valued that franchise at $10.6 billion. In July, the Khosla family entered into an agreement to buy the Seattle Seahawks for $9.61 billion. In March 2025, a group led by private equity executive Bill Chisholm bought the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion.
Not long ago, $6 billion was considered an almost unimaginable price for a sports franchise. That is exactly what a consortium led by Josh Harris paid for the Washington Commanders in May 2023. Harris also owns the Philadelphia 76ers and several other sports properties.
Harris told CNBC's Michael Ozanian that his Commanders purchase now looks different in hindsight. "I bought the Commanders for $6 billion, and everyone said it was the highest price on planet Earth, and I think that now it looks like an attractive deal," Harris said. "I think the Lakers are worth every bit of $12 billion."
The $12.5 billion price tag for the Lakers represents approximately 20 times the team's 2025-26 season revenue, according to CNBC's proprietary team transaction database. That multiple is an all-time high for a control stake in an NBA team. Despite that figure, Harris said he does not believe sports team valuations have reached bubble territory.
Harris pointed to the continued and growing appetite for live content as a key driver. Sports franchises hold massive fan bases and carry significant media value across the globe, he said, with both factors continuing to grow. He also cited the increasing flow of private equity money into sports ownership, which has helped make what was historically an illiquid asset easier to buy and sell.
On the roughly 25% increase in the Lakers' valuation in about a year, Harris said he was not surprised. "That's basically what these things have been growing," he said, adding that "the multiple implies massive growth but there's also that scarcity value, people want to own it."
Harris described the current moment in sports valuation in terms that push past conventional financial analysis. "At some point you transcend traditional valuation metrics," he said.
