Dodgers Chair Mark Walter on Friday "confirmed" that Guggenheim Partners is "interested in acquiring a piece" of the Nets, according to Nightengale & Zillgitt of USA TODAY. Walter said, "We're going ahead hopefully. I haven't seen any numbers on it. I think it's a great franchise. I haven't heard that it is signed" (USATODAY.com, 10/3). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir noted Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov is "trying to create a new company by combining his team and arena assets with those owned" by Guggenheim Partners in a "complex transaction." The club "has been valued" at $1.7B, and Barclays Center at $1.1B. If the deal "comes to fruition," Prokhorov and team investor Bruce Ratner would receive $2.8B in "cash, stock and potentially other forms of payment." The parties are "not speaking publicly about the details of their proposed joint venture, making it difficult to determine whether" Prokhorov "would remain the Nets’ controlling owner and how far the negotiations have gone." IMG Chief Content Officer Mark Shapiro said Dodgers co-Owner Todd Boehly “has a history of seeing and creating value where others believe it doesn’t exist.” Shapiro: "He’s done it with the Dodgers ... and he’ll do it again and again.” He added, "Todd doesn’t do deals just for the sake of doing deals. He will evaluate this opportunity six ways to Sunday." Sandomir wrote the transaction under consideration would "potentially create a formidable force in sports that could acquire other teams and other properties in sports and entertainment." Still, the "synergy of the Nets’ and Dodgers’ properties was not immediately apparent to some investment bankers who questioned the blending of assets from disparate markets" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/4).
BACKCOURT VIOLATION: In N.Y., Gary Buiso reported a group of Barclays Center luxury-box owners is "suing the Brooklyn arena for the second time in less than a year, claiming they were promised a great investment -- but that its value deflated faster than a punctured basketball." Ludwig’s Drug Store in Prospect Heights purchased rights to the box last October for nearly $1M for three years, and alleges that it was told by arena officials it could "rake in $600,000 a year." Court papers show that "in reality, the group only took in $104,417 last year" (NYPOST.com, 10/5).
