Suns Owner Robert Sarver and former NBAer Steve Nash are "partnering in the purchase" of Spain's Segunda Division club Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, according to sources cited by Marc Stein of ESPN FC. Sarver, Nash and their group have been "trying for months to purchase" a soccer club in Spain. Spanish reports say Sarver's consortium is "set to become maximum shareholder, having proposed a major overhaul at the club" (ESPNFC.us, 1/1). In Phoenix, Dan Bickley wrote the Cardinals have "reached unprecedented altitude just as the Suns have hit rock bottom." The distance between the two "has never been greater, representing a dramatic overhaul in the personality of an adolescent sports market." The Suns will "likely miss the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season, setting a new franchise low." Meanwhile, Sarver is "off buying a soccer team in Spain, having failed at two previous purchases." The optics "are not good." Sarver: "The blame is to be shared from the top down. Our leadership needs to communicate better. It needs to provide a better culture that provides for more accountability and more motivation." Bickley wrote it is "hard to believe now, but the Suns once owned the Valley" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 1/3).
