Issues Of The Heart: Owners Compare Buying Teams To Rare Works Of Art

Several owners at the IMG World Congress of Sports compared buying a sports team to purchasing rare art, acknowledging that analytics and research often go out the window in favor of emotion and scarcity when it actually comes time to buy. "Sports is such a different environment [than other industries]," said Warriors co-Owner Joe Lacob. "There are only so many teams. You're going to pay more than you think you're going to pay." DC United General Partner Will Chang said, "Buying a sports team is sort of like buying art in an auction. Right after submitting the winning bid, you feel foolish for paying so much. But time seems to fix all the doubts you had. In 2008, everything I had went down in value, with the exception of my sports teams. This is an asset class I'll continue to invest in." NBA Kings Managing Partner Vivek Ranadive said there was no moment of doubt when he acquired the franchise roughly two years ago. "There was not even a sliver of regret when we bought," he said. "It was a joyous occasion.”