Michael Jordan became the first former player to be a majority team owner in the NBA when his US$275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats was unanimously approved by the league’s Board of Governors on Wednesday.
Jordan will take over the money-losing team immediately from Bob Johnson, after serving as a minority investor with the final say on basketball decisions since 2006.
“Purchasing the Bobcats is the culmination of my post-playing career goal of becoming the majority owner of an NBA franchise,” Jordan said in a statement. “I am especially pleased to have the opportunity to build a winning team in my home state of North Carolina. I plan to make this franchise an organization that Charlotte can be proud of and I am committed to doing all that I can to achieve this goal.”
The six-time NBA champion will be charged with turning around the fortunes of the six-year-old Bobcats, who are on pace to lose about US$30 million this season because of sluggish ticket and sponsorship sales.
The 47-year-old Jordan, who will assume about US$150 million in debt in the deal, becomes the second black majority owner of a major US professional sports team. He replaces the first in Johnson, who paid US$300 million for the expansion team, but lost tens of millions annually and saw the value of the team decline as Charlotte fans struggled to warm to the NBA again after the Hornets left for New Orleans in 2002.
Johnson won’t completely end his relationship with the team. A spokeswoman for Johnson said he will be a minority investor in Jordan’s ownership group.
NBA commissioner David Stern predicted last week the deal would be approved easily by the league’s owners.
Jordan grew up in Wilmington and led University of North Carolina to a US college title with a last-second shot, before starring with the Chicago Bulls. Jordan briefly ran the Washington Wizards operations and returned as a player with Washington, before being fired from his management role in 2003.
“While there is still plenty of work to do both on and off the floor, our attendance, television ratings, corporate support and on-court performance are headed in the right direction,” Bobcats president Fred Whitfield said. “That trend will only continue as Michael transitions into all facets of our business.”
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