Owner Herb Kohl was well past retirement age and realized it was time to secure the future of the Milwaukee Bucks. He had one big caveat for any potential investors: Keep the team in his hometown of Milwaukee.
And he found a buyer.
Kohl banking on New York investment firm executives Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens to follow through after agreeing to sell them the Bucks for about $550 million. The deal is subject to approval by the NBA and its board of governors.
The price is a record for a pro basketball franchise, according to Forbes . It is a stunning price for a franchise that might be among the league's financial weaklings, but Forbes says it shows "the overall business of the NBA is booming."
Once completed, the new ownership group likely will include local ownership, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal . It would be a smart move to include names fans recognize.
Among potential partners: former Bucks player Junior Bridgeman, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Mark Attansio, leader owner of the Milwaukee Brewers.
“We have a number of qualified, upstanding Wisconsinites — some from Milwaukee, some from around the state — who have an interest in being part of a solution,” according to Steve Greenberg of Allen & Co. of New York. Greenberg represented Kohl in the deal.
The Bucks finished with the NBA's worst record and best chance at the first overall pick in the 2014 draft.
With Duke star Jabari Parker announcing his decision to go pro on Thursday, Sporting News' latest NBA mock draft pegs him going to the Bucks first overall.
Kohl, whose family owned a department store chain, purchased the Bucks in 1985. Price: $18 million.
"I wasn't going to live forever. I've approached a time in my life where I have to think about ... how do we think about succession," Kohl, 79, said Wednesday at a news conference in the atrium of the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
The deal was announced hours before the team was to play its final game of a dismal season.
The first clue that the Bucks were likely staying in town came before Kohl said a word, when Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and County Executive Chris Abele took seats on stage. Kohl had been championing the need for a new arena for years.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who will finance new arena? | Dramatic changes coming? | Kohl passes the ball
As efforts to secure investors ramped up in recent months, Kohl said he thought it might be best to sell the team instead of keeping a stake to give the new owners say over arena construction.
Lasry and Edens committed to providing $100 million to help build an arena. Kohl also announced he would donate $100 million for a new facility.
"Milwaukee fans deserve a winning team," Edens said.
Now local and state officials hope the sale will help shift the public discourse for replacing the Bradley Center, the team's downtown home which opened in 1988.
"We should be shouting from the rooftops because this is a game-changer for this entire debate," Barrett said.
Edens said he hopes to get a plan for an arena in a year, and have it built in a couple years. He said he thought about $400 million could be a benchmark for building the facility.
Kohl said the subject of the sale would come up at an NBA meeting this week in New York. In a statement, league commissioner Adam Silver praised Kohl for the "historic and unprecedented" $100 million gift to the city to secure the future of the franchise.
Edens said his mother was born and raised in Wisconsin, and that both he and Lasry are basketball fans.
Edens also employs about 700 people in Milwaukee through his Fortress Investment Group, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal .
The goal over the next five to 10 years was to "bring a championship to this city and try to build ... and become a part of the community," Lasry said.
Contributing: Associated Press