Oprah in wings as NBA sets the wheels turning for Clippers sale
Move to expel Donald Sterling from the league fans speculation about potential buyers
Several luminaries from sports and show business, Oprah Winfrey among them, signalled interest on Wednesday in buying the Los Angeles Clippers as the NBA set a first meeting to weigh removing Donald Sterling as owner over racist remarks attributed to him.
A day after Sterling was banned for life from the National Basketball Association, two of the league’s 29 other team owners, including the governing board’s chairman, said they expected to reach the three-fourths majority vote needed to expel Sterling fully, a move unprecedented in NBA history.
The advisory finance committee of the board scheduled a meeting on Thursday to review the next steps for forcing a sale of the Clippers, as urged on Tuesday by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, a league spokeswoman said.
She [Oprah] thinks it would be a great thing for an important black American to own [another] franchise
Sterling, who bought the Clippers in 1981 for US$13 million when the team was based in San Diego, has not indicated whether he would relinquish ownership without a fight. Experts have estimated that the franchise, which moved to Los Angeles in 1984, could now be worth up to US$800 million.
Moreover, some experts said Sterling’s fellow owners might be hesitant to support action they felt could set a precedent jeopardising their own property rights in the future.
Winfrey’s spokeswoman, Nicole Nichols, said the talk show host turned media mogul was in talks with leading Hollywood executive David Geffen and the chief executive officer of computer technology firm Oracle Corp, Larry Ellison, to bid for the team if it were to become available.
Geffen, who started two record labels and co-founded the DreamWorks film studio, has expressed interest in the Clippers in the past but never tendered an offer. Winfrey’s holdings already include stakes in a cable network and a magazine.