Earlier this month it was reported that Arctos Sports Partners bought a 17% stake in the Kings at a $1.8 billion valuation. Today, the Kings confirmed the sale of the ownership stakes, as well as the minority owners who sold.
From the Kings:
The Sacramento Kings released the following statement from Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé and Arctos Sports Partners on the sale of ownership stakes. Ranadivé and Arctos Sports Partners have officially bought the shares of former owners Mark Friedman, Brad Jenkins, Mark Mastrov, Andy Miller and Kevin Nagle.
We are tremendously thankful to Mark Friedman, Brad Jenkins, Mark Mastrov, Andy Miller and Kevin Nagle for their transformational investment in our franchise,” said Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé. “They have been instrumental in our vision for the organization and their commitment made it possible for the team to stay where it belongs – in Sacramento. We are excited to welcome Arctos Sports Partners to the franchise and look forward to continuing to make Sacramento Proud.”
Kevin Nagle went on to clarify that he had only sold a portion of his minority shares and remains on board as a minority owner.
A little clarification here. I remain a Kings investor at this time as the largest Owner among the local ownership group called Play To Win. I will miss my business partners Mark Friedman, Mark Mastrov, and Andy Miller but we are involved in other business initiatives.
— Kevin Nagle (@KevinNagleMLS) September 24, 2021
While ownership percentages in the Kings are unknown, it seems likely that with this sale, Arctos Sports Partners is now one of the largest stakeholders in the Kings, perhaps only next to Ranadivé himself. This isn’t the first team that Arctos has invested in, as back in April, they bought 5% of the Golden State Warriors as well per a report from Sportico. The NBA only recently changed their rules to allow institutional investors such as Arctos to own parts of teams. According to Sportico, these type of investors may own up to 20% equity in a single franchise and can only own stakes in a maximum of five teams. It seems likely that for these forms this is seen as more of an investing opportunity than anything else, and given skyrocketing franchise valuations in recent years, it makes sense.
The minority owners who sold their shares today were among the first to step up back in 2013 when Sacramento needed them most. Mark Mastrov was even rumored to be the Kings majority owner before Vivek Ranadivé stepped into that role. Regardless, each of them deserve our thanks and gratitude for what they did for this city and this team to help keep the Kings here. Thank you, and best of luck in your future endeavors.
Glad some local folks could extract some serious bank out of this non-basketball entity!
Thankful for all their efforts and contributions that resulted in the team staying here!
BREAKING: Golden 1 Center to be renamed ARCTOS ARENA
*not really
More like:
BREAKING: Carmichael Dave no longer entitled to free hot dogs, popcorn and brownies at the G1C!
It makes sense with the kind of valuations the NBA teams are getting now. You almost need an investment group that likely is made up of hundreds, if not thousands of investors to pool that capital to buy a team. It makes me wonder if we ever see a pro sports team or league issue an IPO?
That’s a big reason the NBA started allowing institutions to own parts of teams. They were running out of individuals who were wealthy enough to keep driving prices up.
Manchester United is publicly traded on the NYSE. I think there is an Italian soccer team as well…
Save the MLS bid with the profits, fellas?
That’d be awesome!
It is Nagle, right?
Yes, and that’s likely also the reason that the MLS bid shit the bed.
Thumbs down.
Can’t blame them. They made good money and can now jump ship from the shitshow under Vivek. If things change, great, but there’s been a pattern. And I don’t understand the “Wow” from Greg. What am I missing here.
Vivek Ran’emoutoftown
Add some High Arctos Corn Syrup to your diet, Kings fans,
More ownership stake for Vivek and less local voices at the table…this is bad.
Slowly but surely, Vivek is running dissenters to his stewardship out of town.
What are we proud of? Seriously, would love to know what VR thinks.
We’re proud we put up a fight for the team so we could line his pockets.
I work in finance and know Arctos. They are definitely not Kings fans (NYC based) and only in it for the $$. Not that’s necessarily a bad thing but they are investing purely in the business…interestingly enough I asked them about the Kings when I heard the pitch and they said that despite the general disfunction of the team that Vivek actually runs a pretty tight ship compared to a lot of other owners.
Badge Legend