Bucks co-owner Mark Lasry agrees to sell stake in his team to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam: sources

Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry has an agreement to sell his interest in the team to Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and the Haslam Sports Group for a valuation of $3.5 billion, according to league sources. the athlete.

Haslam will join the ownership group with current co-owner Wes Edens after a months-long process that included several meetings between the parties. Haslam attended several Bucks games throughout the process, including sitting out at Milwaukee Stadium for their 104-101 win over Phoenix on Sunday and the December 30 win over the Timberwolves.

Sources familiar with Lasry’s plans said he will continue to pursue business opportunities in the sport, including potential ownership of another professional team.

He bought Edens and the Lasry Bucks from Herb Kohl in 2014 for $550 million. As part of the sale, Kohl promised to donate $100 million for a new arena to help ensure the team’s survival in Milwaukee.

Under Lasry, the Bucks delivered on their promise of a new arena. Fiserv Forum opened in August 2018 and has led to massive commercial success around the building as the surrounding development, called Deer District, has helped transform part of downtown Milwaukee.

Lasry’s nearly decade-long tenure as co-owner – his last three and a half years as controlling ruler – has seen the Bucks emerge as a force on and off the ground.

The team turned into a perennial title contender as Giannis Antetokounmpo developed into a star and won back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, their first in 2019, during Mike Bodenholzer’s first two seasons as head coach. After three seasons of continued success, the Bucks won the 2021 NBA title, the franchise’s second championship and their first since 1971. Key to that title was GM John Horst’s foreign trade that brought Jrue Holiday to the Bucks to form the Big Three with Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton .

Hassan, 68, is the chairman of the truck-stop chain Pilot Flying J. His father, Jim, founded the Pilot Oil Corporation in 1958, and the Pilot Company is now the fifth largest privately held company in the United States, according to a Forbes list from 2022. According to Forbes, the company’s 2022 revenue was $41.9 billion and the company employs 30,000 people.

Hassan already owns the NFL’s Browns and the NBA’s Columbus Crew. He has been a co-owner of professional sports franchises since 2008 when he bought a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers. He sold his minority stake in the Steelers to purchase the Browns from Randy Lerner and control of the franchise for $1 billion.

Since taking over the franchise midway through the 2012 season, Haslam has watched the Browns compile a 55-113-1 record and make just one playoff appearance, in 2020. Haslam took over the Columbus Crew at the start of 2019 and the team won the 2019 Finals. MLS Cup in 2020.

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(Photo by Jimmy Hassan: Ken Blaise/USA Today)