The Los Angeles Lakers' newly configured ownership group is projecting the franchise will reach a $30 billion valuation within ten years, according to internal documents circulated among limited partners. The target represents a 100% appreciation from the team's current estimated worth of $7.1 billion per Forbes, and would position the Lakers as the first North American sports franchise to crack nine figures in enterprise value.
The projection arrives as the ownership structure itself shifts. While the Buss family retains operational control, the syndicate now includes several institutional allocators who entered at the $5.5 billion mark during a 2022 recapitalization. That group, led by a family office with ties to West Coast real estate and technology secondaries, is modeling the valuation leap on three revenue engines: a dedicated streaming product launching in 2026, a Chase Center-style mixed-use development adjacent to the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, and international licensing deals structured around the LeBron James archive once his playing rights expire.
The $30 billion number is not fanciful in isolation. The NBA's new media rights package, signed in 2024, pays the league $76 billion over eleven years—triple the prior deal. The Lakers, with their own local media apparatus and the league's second-largest social following after Golden State, are positioned to capture outsize shares of both national revenue pools and local sponsorship. The team already commands a $150 million annual jersey patch deal, the highest in basketball. The ownership pitch to LPs centers on margin expansion: if the franchise can lift EBITDA margins from an estimated 22% to 28% while growing top-line revenue by 8% annually, the math supports a $25 billion to $32 billion exit valuation by 2035, depending on the multiple.
What makes the target notable is its timing. Mark Walter and Todd Boehly, co-owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers and until recently significant shareholders in Chelsea FC, are offloading their London soccer holdings. The pair sold a portion of their Chelsea stake this week to a group that includes private equity and Gulf-based sovereign capital. Walter and Boehly retain minority stakes in the Dodgers but have redirected focus toward U.S. assets with clearer paths to liquidity. The Chelsea exit is being read by allocators as a signal that European soccer, despite its global brand equity, offers less predictable returns than American franchise plays with fixed revenue-sharing models.
The Lakers' projection also reflects a broader repricing of NBA franchises. The Phoenix Suns sold for $4 billion in 2023. The Milwaukee Bucks, a small-market team, are valued north of $3.2 billion. If those comps hold, a Lakers franchise—with its coastal media market, celebrity courtside density, and naming rights to a new arena opening in 2026—could command a 4x to 5x revenue multiple on an exit, well above the historical 3x to 3.5x range. The Buss family has no stated intention to sell, but the recapitalization structure allows LPs to tender shares at set intervals, meaning partial liquidity events are possible without a full franchise sale.
Sponsorship deals are the other lever. The Lakers are in renewal talks with Delta Air Lines, whose $12 million annual partnership expires in 2025. The team is seeking $20 million to $25 million on a new five-year deal, citing courtside impression counts and social media reach that now exceed several NFL franchises. A similar repricing is underway with the team's luxury watch partner, where the Lakers are modeling $8 million annually versus the current $4.5 million. If those deals close at target, the franchise's sponsorship revenue alone would exceed $300 million by 2027, up from an estimated $210 million today.
The Inglewood development, a joint venture with AEG and a hospitality REIT, is projected to add $75 million to $100 million in annual NOI once the hotel, retail, and office components are stabilized. That income stream would be securitized and refinanced, creating a separate asset the ownership group could dividend or sell into a propco structure. The maneuver mirrors what the Warriors executed with Chase Center, where the real estate now trades at a higher multiple than the team itself.
What to watch: the streaming product's subscriber target and pricing tier, expected to be disclosed by mid-2025. Also, whether the Lakers pursue a naming-rights deal for their practice facility, which several Western Conference teams have recently monetized in the $3 million to $6 million annual range. The Delta renewal is on a 90-day clock. And the Buss family's LP tender window opens in Q1 2026, the first test of whether outside investors will pay into the $30 billion story or mark it down.
The $30 billion projection is a bet that the NBA's next media cycle, beginning in 2036, will double again—and that the Lakers will have built enough owned distribution and real estate to capture returns independent of league-wide revenue growth. The Dodgers backers, having placed that bet in baseball and trimmed their soccer exposure, appear to believe the model works better in leagues with American labor structures and American buyers.