Amidst tanking 3.0, could Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris be gearing up to sell the team? Sixers have done little other than rebuild since he led a group of investors who bought the team back in 2011. Despite bottoming out, would an increase in the team's value lead the ownership to sell the Sixers and invest in something bigger?
Mitch Lawrence of Forbes believes that Harris and David Blizter, a partner in the ownership group, are gearing up to sell to buy an NFL team in London:
Harris and Blitzer are going to try to be the ones to bring the NFL to London and join the Kroenke family (St. Louis Rams, Denver Nuggets), fellow billionaire Paul Allen (Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers) and Tom Benson (New Orleans Saints and Pelicans) as owners of teams in both professional sports. The Kroenkes also own Arsenal FC of the Premier League.
Harris and Blitzer now rank as two of the three top investors in Crystal Palace, along with club chairman Steve Parish. The two Americans have much bigger plans.
“They’re more interested in getting the NFL in London than they are in the NBA,’’ the source said. “Their No. 1 goal is to get the NFL team in London. They want to flip the Sixers anyway.’’
The two would certainly have a huge down payment.
The Sixers may be worth as much as $900 million, depending who you ask. After being valued $469 million in 2014 by Forbes, some numbers put the value at $700 million in 2015. The numbers are only going up, thanks to enhanced television revenue. That means the Sixers could have made as much as half a billion dollars profit since acquiring the team, essentially to sit on their hands and do nothing.
Harris also owns the New Jersey Devils.
