Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling hasn’t even been officially forced to sell the team after he was banned from all NBA activities, but the media has already begun speculating who will buy the team. Music mogul David Geffen has been the most vocal interested party and now he has said former talk show host Oprah Winfrey is interested in joining him and Oracle Corp CEO Larry Ellison to buy the team.
As previously reported, Geffen already told Forbes that he would be interested, but he later told ESPN on Wednesday that Winfrey would join his bid as an investor. Geffen explained that he and Ellison would run the day-to-day operations. The Chicago Tribune added that Winfrey’s spokesperson also confirmed that she is interested.
“Oprah is not interested in running the team,” Geffen told ESPN. “She thinks it would be a great thing for an important black American to own [another] franchise.”
Geffen explained that Ellison is a big sports fan and would not want to see the franchise fail if he owned it.
“The team deserves a better group of owners who want to win. Larry would sooner die than fail. I would sooner die than fail,” Geffen told ESPN. “Larry's a sportsman. We've talked about this for a long time. Between the three of us, we have a good shot.”
Geffen was one of several entrepreneurs to show interest in the Clippers if the NBA’s Board of Governors forces Sterling to sell the team, not that he’s been banned from all league-related activities. Rappers Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Rick Ross also threw their hats into the ring.