Grizzlies Valued At Nearly $1.4 Billion With Buy-Sell Clause

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Memphis Grizzlies are valued between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion under the terms of a buy-sell clause. Robert Pera will retain control of the franchise.

The clause gave Steve Kaplan and Daniel Straus the option of buying the team out from Pera by naming a price for his shares.

Once triggered, the three groups negotiated for 60 days to try and strike a deal before Kaplan and Straus submitted binding bids.

Straus' bid was higher than Kaplan and Pera will match the bid and buy him out. It is unclear what will happen with Kaplan and his shares.

Via Zach Lowe/ESPN

[the_process]

Straus wanted to be bought out with a bid 300k higher than the latest Forbes estimate. He cashes out big time here from his original investment.

I imagine Kaplan and Pera will now put the team back up for sale. Don’t be surprised to see them moved. They gave up on Vancouver too fast IMO, and it’s not breaking news to say Memphis probably wasn’t the best choice to move to.

[deeps6x]

Straus wanted to be bought out with a bid 300k higher than the latest Forbes estimate. He cashes out big time here from his original investment.

I imagine Kaplan and Pera will now put the team back up for sale. Don’t be surprised to see them moved. They gave up on Vancouver too fast IMO, and it’s not breaking news to say Memphis probably wasn’t the best choice to move to.

I'd say move them back to Vancouver, but the time to do that was when the Canadian buck was worth more than the US buck a few years ago. Since then Balmer jacked the prices on all of the franchises and now it might be too expensive to buy the team and build a new arena in Vancouver. Plus the city isn't littered with billionaires willing to bring the team home. Too bad the first guy was such a hustler. They needed a Mark Cuban like owner but got (McCaw? was that his name?) instead. More power to him for making quick bucks on the move, but the city really should have had them locked in for at least a dozen years in an unbreakable arena clause.

[VanCityBallers]

Straus wanted to be bought out with a bid 300k higher than the latest Forbes estimate. He cashes out big time here from his original investment.

I imagine Kaplan and Pera will now put the team back up for sale. Don’t be surprised to see them moved. They gave up on Vancouver too fast IMO, and it’s not breaking news to say Memphis probably wasn’t the best choice to move to.

I'd say move them back to Vancouver, but the time to do that was when the Canadian buck was worth more than the US buck a few years ago. Since then Balmer jacked the prices on all of the franchises and now it might be too expensive to buy the team and build a new arena in Vancouver. Plus the city isn't littered with billionaires willing to bring the team home. Too bad the first guy was such a hustler. They needed a Mark Cuban like owner but got (McCaw? was that his name?) instead. More power to him for making quick bucks on the move, but the city really should have had them locked in for at least a dozen years in an unbreakable arena clause.

I'd love to see the Grizzlies come back to Vancouver. You're right that the Canadian Dollar isn't doing well compared to the American, and would be an issue for sure, however your point about billionaires and stadiums are inaccurate. The Vancouver Canucks owner (a billionaire) has been seeking an NBA Franchise for years, almost buying the Pacers several years ago. He also has Rogers Arena, where the Canucks play, that is a good stadium and recently had renovations to add a hotel to it. It's an NBA quality stadium. There are also several other Billionaires in Vancouver, which is a booming city. Bringing the Grizzlies back would make a lot of sense, and the Raptors are the top team in the East even with the bad Canadian Dollar, so it's definitely possible.

[deeps6x]

Straus wanted to be bought out with a bid 300k higher than the latest Forbes estimate. He cashes out big time here from his original investment.

I imagine Kaplan and Pera will now put the team back up for sale. Don’t be surprised to see them moved. They gave up on Vancouver too fast IMO, and it’s not breaking news to say Memphis probably wasn’t the best choice to move to.

I'd say move them back to Vancouver, but the time to do that was when the Canadian buck was worth more than the US buck a few years ago. Since then Balmer jacked the prices on all of the franchises and now it might be too expensive to buy the team and build a new arena in Vancouver. Plus the city isn't littered with billionaires willing to bring the team home. Too bad the first guy was such a hustler. They needed a Mark Cuban like owner but got (McCaw? was that his name?) instead. More power to him for making quick bucks on the move, but the city really should have had them locked in for at least a dozen years in an unbreakable arena clause.

I'd love to see the Grizzlies come back to Vancouver. You're right that the Canadian Dollar isn't doing well compared to the American, and would be an issue for sure, however your point about billionaires and stadiums are inaccurate. The Vancouver Canucks owner (a billionaire) has been seeking an NBA Franchise for years, almost buying the Pacers several years ago. He also has Rogers Arena, where the Canucks play, that is a good stadium and recently had renovations to add a hotel to it. It's an NBA quality stadium. There are also several other Billionaires in Vancouver, which is a booming city. Bringing the Grizzlies back would make a lot of sense, and the Raptors are the top team in the East even with the bad Canadian Dollar, so it's definitely possible.

Who owns the Canucks? Wasn't Rogers Arena where they originally played? I guess if the upgrades were done recently then it might be good enough. Do the Canucks sell out their games? If this owner can afford to buy the team back for $1.3 billion or so, then that would be fantastic - assuming the league would let him. They seem to be wanting a team back in Seattle first for some reason.

[WC NBA Fan]

I'd say move them back to Vancouver, but the time to do that was when the Canadian buck was worth more than the US buck a few years ago. Since then Balmer jacked the prices on all of the franchises and now it might be too expensive to buy the team and build a new arena in Vancouver. Plus the city isn't littered with billionaires willing to bring the team home. Too bad the first guy was such a hustler. They needed a Mark Cuban like owner but got (McCaw? was that his name?) instead. More power to him for making quick bucks on the move, but the city really should have had them locked in for at least a dozen years in an unbreakable arena clause.

I'd love to see the Grizzlies come back to Vancouver. You're right that the Canadian Dollar isn't doing well compared to the American, and would be an issue for sure, however your point about billionaires and stadiums are inaccurate. The Vancouver Canucks owner (a billionaire) has been seeking an NBA Franchise for years, almost buying the Pacers several years ago. He also has Rogers Arena, where the Canucks play, that is a good stadium and recently had renovations to add a hotel to it. It's an NBA quality stadium. There are also several other Billionaires in Vancouver, which is a booming city. Bringing the Grizzlies back would make a lot of sense, and the Raptors are the top team in the East even with the bad Canadian Dollar, so it's definitely possible.

Who owns the Canucks? Wasn't Rogers Arena where they originally played? I guess if the upgrades were done recently then it might be good enough. Do the Canucks sell out their games? If this owner can afford to buy the team back for $1.3 billion or so, then that would be fantastic - assuming the league would let him. They seem to be wanting a team back in Seattle first for some reason.

Rogers was where they originally played when it was still called GM Place but several arenas are just as old or older. Moda Center (Portland) & TD Garden (Celtics) were both opened the same year it was while United Center (Bulls) & Quicken Loans Arena (Cavs) were opened a year before that.

[DBoys]

Straus wanted to be bought out with a bid 300k higher than the latest Forbes estimate. He cashes out big time here from his original investment.

Assuming Strauss still owns the same percentage of the team he started with 5 years ago, the amount coming to him would be somewhat over what he would have gotten at Forbes' 1.025B estimated value for the team. The report says Strauss offered to buy for, and ultimately received, a valuation somewhere between 1.3 and 1.4, so if we call it 1.35M, here's the difference:

...................Strauss Forbes guess
TOTAL VALUE $1350 M $1025 M
Strauss share $189 M $143.5

And it's certainly true he did make a lot of money on his investment. He apparently put up about $53M for his share 5 years ago.

Interestingly, Strauss didn't really set a "buy" price that Pera met. Instead, he made an offer to buy at that $1.35B price tag. It was only when Pera decided not to sell at that price that Strauss' shares were due to be bought out at that price. If it was too much, Pera could have said no and gotten paid.

Kaplan reportedly owns a similar-sized portion of the team as Strauss, so the question with him was apparently over whether he gets bought out at Strauss' asking price, or at his lower asking price. And reports are now saying the former.

[ChokeFasncists]

They seem to be wanting a team back in Seattle first for some reason.

I wonder if the Grizzlies being the Grizzlies make any difference in terms of moving to Vancouver.

Or like, if Westbrook wouldn't re-sign with the Thunder, then would a return to Seattle more likely to happen?

[deeps6x]

The Grizzlies should still go back to Vancouver.

Seattle will get the next expansion franchise. And seeing how the NBA usually works, they will likely find a way to stock Seattle with better players.

[Shem]

Straus wanted to be bought out with a bid 300k higher than the latest Forbes estimate. He cashes out big time here from his original investment.

I imagine Kaplan and Pera will now put the team back up for sale. Don’t be surprised to see them moved. They gave up on Vancouver too fast IMO, and it’s not breaking news to say Memphis probably wasn’t the best choice to move to.

I'd say move them back to Vancouver, but the time to do that was when the Canadian buck was worth more than the US buck a few years ago. Since then Balmer jacked the prices on all of the franchises and now it might be too expensive to buy the team and build a new arena in Vancouver.

You don't need to build a new arena in Vancouver. When the Grizzlies began play in '95, Vancouver did open up a new arena called General Motors Place. It's since been renamed Rogers Arena. It's still a good arena to play at.