Ballmer’s Clippers Purchase Cuts Pool of Future Sports Owners
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Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers reduces the pool of prospective professional sports owners, according to Sal Galatioto, whose company has sold National Basketball Association franchises including the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers.
“People who were able to buy these teams seven or eight years ago don’t have a prayer anymore,” Galatioto, the president of Galatioto Sports Partners, said yesterday at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in New York. “The pyramid gets very narrow at the top. Once you reach a certain price point, you eliminate the vast majority of prospective buyers.”