ESPN: Microsoft's Ballmer Has Winning Clippers Bid

[futurecoach]

I think some of you are crazy if you don't think one of the richest and most successful businessman in the country won't get his way. If he wants to move to Seattle he will find a way to do it.

 

If you are going to pay 2 billion dollars for a franchise. Youre not going to move that team from a place like LA where you potentially could earn your money back a lot quicker with it being in LA and the type of tv deals and such that he can get from being in LA. Hence the reason why he even said it would financially not make sense for him to move the team from LA now.

 

For probably the majority of the other NBA cities if he had bought one of those teams, there probably would be a good chance he would try to move. However not a team that is in LA to go to Seattle.

[Jim Schue]

Some of these guys just look at these teams as toys and status symbol. I just struggle to think he lost his desire to be the hero of Seattle and bring the Sonics back home.

 

They pretty much all do, in all pro sports. However, the major spike in franchise values over the past five years has forced many of them to stop looking at their franchises as a tax write-off. They're not losing money anymore.

[Jim Schue]

At least two other offers of $1.2B and $1.6B.

 

Wasn't Oprah part of the $1.6B group?