He about to sell for almost a cool $1 billion.
Disgraced Clippers owner Donald Sterling has reportedly agreed to
allow his wife, Shelly, to negotiate a forced sale of the team, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.
Sterling, 80, has owned the Clippers for 33 years, making him the
NBA’s longest-tenured owner. On Monday the league filed an official
termination charge against Sterling, setting in motion an official vote
amongst the league’s owners. That no longer seems to be necessary as
Sterling has reportedly accepted the basis of his ousting from the
league, provided that a suitable arrangement can be made to satisfy all
parties involved.
The biggest remaining question on the matter concerns Shelly Sterling, who previously had pledged to fight to keep her stake in
the team. Based on both the language of the NBA’s memo and the
consensus in reporting on the subject we can conclude that the NBA will
not likely sign off on any arrangement that allows Shelly Sterling to
remain an owner. That she has been empowered by Sterling to carry out
the negotiation of the sale of the team is thus an especially pertinent
development in the execution of a potential deal.
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The official termination charge against Sterling was made on the
grounds that he had “damaged and continue[s] to damage the NBA and its
teams.” Specifically, the NBA has taken issue with Sterling for the
following reasons:
- Disparaging African-Americans and minorities.
- Directing a female acquaintance not to associate publicly with
African-Americans or to bring African-Americans to Clippers games.
- Criticizing African-Americans for not supporting their communities.
The first two items relate to comments made by Sterling to his girlfriend, V. Stiviano, in a private tape that was released by TMZ. The third item relates to comments made during an interview with CNN this month.
The NBA also listed the following impacts of Sterling’s comments and behavior:
- Significantly undermining the NBA’s efforts to promote diversity and inclusion.
- Damaging the NBA’s relationship with its fans.
- Harming NBA owners, players and Clippers team personnel.
- Impairing the NBA’s relationship with marketing and merchandising partners, as well as with government and community leaders.
Finally, the NBA has accused Sterling of engaging in “other
misconduct,” including releasing a “false and misleading press
statement.” Upon the release of the TMZ tape, Sterling issued a statement in which he questioned the legitimacy of the audio and refused to confirm that the voice on the tape was his.
http://nba.si.com/2014/05/23/donald-sterling-agrees-to-sell-clippers/