Several business moguls and entrepreneurs have expressed interest in buying the Los Angeles Clippers, if the other NBA owners do end up forcing embattled owner Donald Sterling to sell the team.
In an interview with USA Today at the MGM Grand, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. said his business group would be very interested in buying the team. However, he would only be interested in taking a major stake, not a minority portion.
“I can't come in here talking about Mayweather only going to get 3 percent or 4 percent,” the boxer said. “I got to get a solid percentage. But do we want to buy the Clippers? Yes we do. We're very, very interested in buying the Clippers.”
Mayweather added that he would not move the team from LA. “I'm at the games all the time anyway, because I can walk to the games (from his Los Angeles home),” he explained.
Meanwhile, media mogul David Geffen told Forbes that he would be interested as well. Geffen is estimated to be worth $6.2 billion, so he wouldn’t have a problem buying the team.
The Washington Post reports that rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs expressed his interest on Twitter. “I will always be a Knicks fan, but I am a business man. #DiddyBuyTheClippers #NameYourPrice,” he wrote.
I will always be a Knicks fan, but I am a business man. #DiddyBuyTheClippers #NameYourPrice
— Diddy (@iamdiddy) April 29, 2014
Rapper Rick Ross also said he’s interested in investing.
I'd be interested investing in @LAclippers !!!! Make It #WingstopArena @WingstopCEO Lets Goooo !!!
— Mastermind (@rickyrozay) April 29, 2014
NBA Commissioner banned Sterling from all NBA activities for life on Tuesday, following the racist remarks heard on a tape published by TMZ on Saturday. He was also fined the maximum $2.5 million. Silver will now have to go to the league’s Board of Governors to get approval to force Sterling to sell the team.