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Franchises

Boogie Shoes: Tom Benson Reportedly To Be Announced As New Hornets Owner

The NBA is expected to announce Friday afternoon that the league has a deal to sell the Hornets to a group led by Saints Owner Tom Benson for $338M, according to a source. The league paid approximately $318M for the franchise when it bought the team from George Shinn in December '10. NBA Commissioner David Stern is expected to talk about the deal following the NBA BOG meeting in N.Y. (John Lombardo, SportsBusiness Journal). Benson will own 100% of the team (NOLA.com, 4/13). California-based swimsuit manufacturer Raj Bhathal was also bidding for the team. In New Orleans, Jimmy Smith in a front-page piece this morning cited sources as saying that Bhathal and former Hornets Minority Owner Gary Chouest, who is part of Bhathal's group, “met in New York on Monday with league officials, and possibly" with NBA Commissioner David Stern, while Benson reportedly "also spoke with the NBA on Monday, but was not in New York." All parties involved in the negotiations to purchase the league-owned franchise “have signed a confidentiality agreement,” though in the last two months, the Bhathal group “has been publicly identified, as has Chouest’s interest in becoming a minority partner in that consortium.” Benson's “bid for the team when the initial solicitation process began but dropped out,” but he has “re-emerged into the picture." Smith reported it is "unclear whether the NBA sought to bring Benson back into the bidding." Sources said that it "has been Bhathal's focus from the beginning to keep the team in New Orleans and that Bhathal has the financial wherewithal to consummate a purchase" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 4/13).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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