The following are sale prices of professional basketball teams (excluding the NBA), either published in the media or provided by sources with direct knowledge of the transactions. If you would like to know our source for a particular transaction, contact us and we’ll be happy to share, unless the information was provided on background by an industry source.
As with all business numbers in sports, understand that these figures are occasionally misrepresented by owners or obscured by faulty memories. Prices may represent the price of a controlling interest in a team, but not 100% of the shares. In a few cases, we have used the less than (<), greater than (>) and estimated (~) symbols to indicate partial information gleaned about a sale.
American Basketball Association (1967-1976)
Sale of existing franchises:
- 1970 – Oakland Oaks – $2.6 million (Ken Davidson to Earl Foreman, Thomas Shaheen & Louis Diamond)
- 1973 – Kentucky Colonels – $2.0 million (William DeWitt & Brian Heekin to John Y. & Ellie Brown) – 57% interest
Women’s National Basketball Association (1997-Present)
Expansion fees:
- 1999 – Miami Sol – $500,000 (The Heat Group)
- 2005 – Chicago Sky – $10.0 million (Michael Alter)
- 2007 – Atlanta Dream – $10.0 million (Ron Terwilliger)
Sales of existing franchises:
- 2006 – Los Angeles Sparks – $10.0 million (Dr. Jerry Buss to Carla Christofferson & Kathy Goodman, et al.)
- 2008 – Seattle Storm – $10.0 million (Clay Bennett to Anne Levinson, et al.)
Women’s Professional Basketball League (1978-1981)
Original franchises:
- 1978 – Chicago Hustle – $50,000
- 1978 – Iowa Cornets – $50,000 (George Nissen)
Continental Basketball Association (1978-2001)
Expansion fees:
- 1982 – Detroit Spirits – $100,000 (Agustin Arbulu, et al.)
- 1983 – Sarasota Stingers – $180,000 (Jeffrey Fischer & Michael Cohn)
- 1984 – Evansville Thunder – $300,000 (David Ellenstein)
- 1985 – Kansas City Sizzlers – $500,000 (Bernard Glannon)
- 1989 – Oklahoma City Cavalry – $600,000 (Chip Land et al.)
- 2000 – Gary Steelheads – $750,000 (Jewell Harris et al.)
Sale of existing franchises:
- 1988 – Albany Patroons – $334,000 (James Coyne et al. to Ben Fernandez)
- 1990 – Topeka Sizzlers – $550,000 (James W. Garrett to Bob Wilson)
- 1995 – Capital Region Pontiacs – $700,000 (Joseph O’Hara to Hartford Sports & Entertainment Group)
- 2005 – Yakima Sun Kings – $140,000 (John & Darren Uceny to the Yakama Indian Nation)
Eastern Basketball Association (1946-1978)
Expansion fees:
- 1977 – Anchorage Northern Knights – $8,000 (Mike Shupe, et al.)
Western Basketball Association (1978-79)
Original franchises:
- Washington Lumberjacks – $20,000 (Columbia Pacific Resources/Michael McDermott)
World Basketball League (1988-1992)
Original franchises:
- 1987 – Calgary 88’s – $25,000 (Jon Havelock)
- 1987 – Chicago Express – $25,000 (Barry Fox, et al.)
- 1987 – Fresno Flames – $25,000 (?)
- 1987 – Las Vegas Silver Streaks – $25,000 (?)
- 1987 – Vancouver Nighthawks – $25,000 (Don Burns)
- 1987 – Youngstown Pride – $25,000 (Mickey Monus)
Expansion franchises:
- 1990 – Memphis Rockers – $200,000 (Pat Carter, Harold Shaw, George Jones, et al.) – 20% interest
Sale of existing franchises:
- 1990 – Las Vegas Silver Streaks – $200,000 (World Basketball League to Rick Kulis) – 40% interest
