On the heels of the ouster of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, there’ve been talks that media mogul Oprah Winfrey, among others, is interested in purchasing the team. It’s anybody’s guess who will end up buying the team, but the move would certainly be a step towards increasing diversity in sports ownership. Though 76% of NBA players are African American, former pro basketball player Michael Jordan is the only African American majority owner of a team – the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. In 2003, BET founder and billionaire Robert Johnson was the first African American majority owner of a sports team when he bought the Bobcats.?
After making racist comments that were discovered on tape, Sterling has been banned from the NBA for life and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has called for Sterling to sell the team.
Winfrey has expressed an interest in buying the team with business moguls David Geffen and Larry Ellison. Since the news broke, several others including boxer Floyd Meriweather, rapper P. Diddy and Dr. Dre have also mentioned an interest in buying the team.
Read more at ESPN Los Angeles.
