Mark Walter has put the Los Angeles Sparks up for sale, seeking more than $500 million for a franchise he acquired in 2014 for roughly $25 million. The Guggenheim Partners co-founder is retaining the Los Angeles Dodgers but shedding peripheral holdings—the Sparks, Chelsea FC, and a minority Lakers stake—as his portfolio tightens around baseball's most valuable franchise.
The timing lands as the WNBA prepares to expand from 12 teams to 16 by 2028. Golden State's $50 million expansion fee in 2024 already looks quaint; Portland's incoming franchise commanded $125 million, and Philadelphia and Toronto bids are circling $200 million. Walter's ask reflects that climb and the Sparks' rare asset: an existing roster, a lease at Crypto.com Arena through 2041, and immediate media rights in the league's second television contract cycle, which begins in 2026 at $200 million annually, up from $60 million.
Buyers will inherit a team that won three championships under Walter's tenure but finished 8-32 last season, the league's worst record. Head coach Curt Miller was dismissed in September. The roster includes Dearica Hamby, who sued the franchise in 2023 over pregnancy discrimination, settling privately in July. The arena lease is clean—the Sparks share facilities with the Lakers and Kings under AEG's umbrella—but the basketball operation needs capital. Suitors know this. They also know that Los Angeles is one of six WNBA markets with a local television deal, a revenue stream that matters more as the league's next national contract approaches $300 million per year by 2030.
The sale process is quiet. No formal auction, no advisory bank named yet. Walter is sounding out family offices and ownership groups that already hold stakes in NBA or MLS franchises. Two names circulating: Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss, who bought into the Dodgers with Walter in 2012 and retain minority stakes. A women-led buyer would generate headlines, but the economics will dictate. Walter wants speed and a clean close, not a bidding war that drags past Q1 2027.
Watch for a transaction by March, when WNBA free agency opens and coaching hires lock. Crypto.com's naming-rights extension talks with AEG are separate but parallel; the Sparks' new owner will want certainty on venue branding before the 2027 season. Expect the NBA's Lakers-adjacent ownership structure to influence the buyer—someone already embedded in the AEG or Anschutz orbit makes underwriting easier. Portland's expansion bid closed in six weeks once the principal was identified. Los Angeles has better bones and worse optics, but the math still works at $500 million if the media-rights tailwind holds.