I asked Walter why he believed it made business sense to pay three times as much as any major league team had sold for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you have a few moments in life where you have the opportunity to own an asset and really be a custodian of something that should be multigenerational and iconic,\u201d he said then<\/a>. \u201cI understand it\u2019s a lot of money. But it\u2019s not as if you can go buy another one tomorrow. \u2026 We hope we never, ever are going to sell it.\u201d<\/p>\n That was essentially the point someone who travels within the inner circles of pro sports made to me Wednesday morning, as news broke that Walter had sold the Lakers<\/a> to Bob Iger, the former Disney chief, and Joshua Kushner.<\/p>\n The Steinbrenner family has owned the New York Yankees for 53 years. Jerry Jones has owned the Dallas Cowboys for 37 years. The Buss family owned the Lakers for 46 years.<\/p>\n These trophy assets are few and far between. Walter had sold the Lakers after less than one year of ownership ratified by the NBA board of governors \u2014 and not through a comprehensive bidding process, but to an inquiring caller during the weekend?<\/p>\n \u201cThis has more red flags than a May Day parade,\u201d an industry insider said, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his professional relationships.<\/p>\n The deal, which valued the Lakers at $12.5 billion, was motivated by the spiraling price for an NBA expansion team in Las Vegas, according to ESPN\u2019s Ramona Shelburne. After all, if Iger and Kushner might have to pay $10 billion for a startup team, why not call and see if Walter might accept a bit more for one of the marquee franchises in American sports?<\/p>\n Was this a blind call or was Walter looking to sell?<\/p>\n \u201cIt was suggested to us that maybe Mark Walter would be interested in selling his stake in the Lakers,\u201d Iger told the California Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n What did Dodgers president Stan Kasten have to say about that?<\/p>\n \u201cI never knew that. He never said that to me,\u201d Kasten said. \u201cI think he was surprised by it. That\u2019s what he has expressed to me. Mark had no plan to do this. This just came up, and he thought about it and said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n Why might Walter have been interested in selling? Mark Walter acknowledges a fan before a game against the Cubs in Chicago this month.<\/p>\n (Melissa Tamez \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Only he can say for sure, but his companies are under federal investigation<\/a> for failing to disclose and properly account for billions of dollars of loans among related entities. Bloomberg reported<\/a> Wednesday that Walter\u2019s holding company is trying to raise money that could help pay off or at least pay down those loans, and the Financial Times reported<\/a> that company assets could be sold or restructured.<\/p>\n No charges have been filed, and investigations can conclude without charges. No allegations of wrongdoing have been made against Walter.<\/p>\n Is there a baseball angle to this?<\/p>\n Among the investment firms Walter\u2019s holding company approached about \u201cdeals to raise cash,\u201d according to Bloomberg: the asset management firm owned by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen.<\/p>\n Cohen\u2019s firm passed, according to the Financial Times.<\/p>\n When Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers, the runners-up: the bid team of Cohen and Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, that never came up. And Mark and I discussed it,\u201d Kasten said. \u201cSo, no, we don\u2019t have any reason to think that. I certainly have no reason to think that.\u201d<\/p>\n What does Walter\u2019s sale of the Lakers mean for the Dodgers?<\/p>\n \u201cIt means nothing for the Dodgers,\u201d someone who speaks regularly with Walter said, speaking on condition of anonymity. \u201cHe owned them long before the Lakers and will own them long after.\u201d<\/p>\n If Walter should later sell the Dodgers, what might have the greatest impact on the team? Shohei Ohtani has an out clause in his contract if Mark Walter sells the team.<\/p>\n (Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Shohei Ohtani\u2019s 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers includes an unusual escape clause<\/a>: If Walter is no longer the controlling owner, or if Andrew Friedman is no longer running the Dodgers\u2019 baseball operations department, Ohtani can opt out of the contract. <\/p>\n Would he?<\/p>\n Way too soon to tell. If major league owners get their way in collective bargaining, the proposed salary cap would mean Ohtani at $70 million could eat up just about one-third of any team\u2019s payroll. And, in his third year with the Dodgers, he has yet to complete a full season as a pitcher, and a left knee in which manager Dave Roberts says Ohtani suffers from \u201cwear and tear\u201d<\/a> could make him less of a two-way player as the contract winds down.<\/p>\n On the other hand, playing salary might be less of an issue for him than for any other player in baseball. Ohtani is making more than his annual salary \u2014 an estimated $125 million this year<\/a> \u2014 from sponsorships and endorsements, and he famously deferred $68 million of each year\u2019s salary so the Dodgers could spend more freely on players that could help him and the team win. After six losing years with the Angels and two World Series championships in two years with the Dodgers, a losing team might not entice Ohtani, no matter how much room it might have under a proposed cap.<\/p>\n Iger used to run Disney. How did Disney\u2019s experience owning the Angels and Mighty Ducks go? Disney chairman Michael Eisner, left, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, NHL chairman Bruce McNall and Mighty Ducks chairman Jack Lindquist blow duck calls announcing the name of the team in 1993.<\/p>\n (Doug Pizac \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Disney dressed the Angels in uniforms derided by one player as \u201cpinstripe pajamas,\u201d put cheerleaders on the dugout roof, and installed a loud \u201ccountdown to first pitch.\u201d This all seemed awful at the time but, given the plagues of in-game hosts and teams sporting jerseys in colors far beyond home white and road gray, perhaps Disney was just ahead of its time. And, for the first few years of the franchise, Mighty Ducks gear was some of the hottest merchandise in American sports.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Disney wanted the Angels and Mighty Ducks to launch an \u201cESPN West\u201d regional sports channel<\/a>. When that channel collapsed, Disney no longer needed the teams and eventually sold them. The Angels were such a minimal part of Disney\u2019s portfolio that then-chief executive Michael Eisner showed up in the clubhouse and the players had no idea who he was.<\/p>\n Who owned the Angels when they won their one and only World Series championship? Angels players waive to fans during the World Series title parade in Anaheim in 2002.<\/p>\n (Jean-Marc Bouju \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Disney. The company hired an investment banker to sell the team<\/a> in the final month before the Angels won the 2002 World Series<\/a> and agreed to sell to Arte Moreno<\/a> in the first month of the following season.<\/p>\n One more try: Why did Walter really sell the Lakers?<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was opportunistic and he found something that made sense to him,\u201d Kasten said. \u201cMark\u2019s a very sensible guy. But that\u2019s really the only way I can explain it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll have to talk to Mark about a more in-depth explanation and good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n Times staff writer Maddie Lee contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2012, on the day after Mark Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers, I sat next to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":998168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2379,399911,76382,1582,276,7299,2442,114043,2961,8604,224,5337,26878,56,399912,6459,271025,16931,4712,1628],"class_list":["post-998167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-angels","tag-bid-team","tag-bob-iger","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-disney","tag-dodgers","tag-insurance-company","tag-la","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-mark-cuban","tag-mark-walter","tag-mighty-ducks-gear","tag-money","tag-other-player","tag-salary","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/998168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786580904_636_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Shohei](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786626567_155_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Disney](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786626569_714_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Angels](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786626570_691_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n