Five-time Los Angeles Lakers champion Magic Johnson is apparently looking to the NFL, the most popular sport in the country, when it comes to expanding his sports club ownership portfolio.
Liz Hoffman of Semafor reports reports that the 12-time Lakers All-Star is considering purchasing a portion of football franchise the Las Vegas Raiders.
Hoffman writes that Johnson has been in talks with several other investors to procure a minority portion of the club, which moved from Oakland to Sin City in 2018. How much are the Raiders currently worth? Forbes reports that current majority owner Mark Davis was approached during the NFL offseason with a minority stake offer that pegged the club to be worth a whopping $6.5 billion.
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Johnson is of course no stranger to ownership stakes in pro sports clubs. He is currently a co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and also owns L.A.’s WNBA franchise the Los Angeles Sparks and Major League Soccer team Los Angeles Football Club (amazing name). Johnson also owned a 4.5% stake of the Lakers from 1994-2010. He has won five additional titles as a Lakers owner, one as a Dodgers owner in 2020, and one as a Sparks owner in 2016.
Prior to Oakland, of course, the Raiders were the pride of Los Angeles, and won a Super Bowl in 1983 for the City of Angels. Johnson’s Lakers fell to the “fo-fo-fo” Philadelphia 76ers that year in the NBA Finals, but would go on to win their third title with the 6’9″ superstar at the helm in 1985.
The NFL has been printing money for a good long while, so it certainly makes sense from a business perspective for the Hall of Famer to get involved. Wherever Magic Johnson goes, pro teams seem to win. Of course, Lakers fans would probably prefer that he target a franchise currently in L.A., meaning the Rams or Chargers, but it seems like the Raiders are the more available club for ownership equity at present.