The Buss family, architects of 11 NBA championships, is poised to relinquish their four-decade reign over the LA Lakers, with ESPN reporting they are entering an agreement to sell a majority stake in basketball's most glamorous franchise.
A Lakers fan, only going by the name Lafayette, told Reuters: "I like the fact that it's been Jerry Buss' family that have been in control but... it's a bad and a good thing for me. The good thing is they'll have more resources to get players, you know, so hopefully they'll take a page out of the Dodgers' book and be able to get more players."
Lakers minority owner Mark Walter is set to take majority ownership in a deal valuing the Lakers at about $10 billion, making it the most expensive U.S. sports team valuation in history.
The deal will end family control of the Lakers.
READ: Lakers to be sold in record-breaking $10 billion deal: ESPN
"It seemed like the end of an era now," said Leu Stepney, 64, a Lakers fan from Baltimore.
He added: "I'm not sure what the future is going to be, whereas when Jeanie Buss was the owner of the team, you had a pretty good feel about things were going to go. I've been a Lakers fan for 40 years now, yeah, 40 plus and the Buss name has been synonymous with the ownership for all that time, so I was very surprised."
The Buss family will retain a minority share of just over 15% for a period of time after the deal, ESPN reported, bringing to a close its stewardship of a franchise that became synonymous with Hollywood allure and championship excellence.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain what Walter's new stake in the team would be. He purchased a minority stake in the Lakers with Todd Boehly in 2021.
The previous record for biggest sports deal was held by the Boston Celtics, who agreed in March to be sold for $6.1 billion.
(Production: Arafat Barbakh, Rollo Ross, Sandy Hooper)