​Amid rising interest and value in all things surrounding sports and TV/streaming, one of the biggest sports brand teams — the Los Angeles Lakers — are being sold for the second time in less than a
year. With the $12 billion deal, former long-time Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner will own a controlling interest sold to them from financier/investment manager Mark
Walter.Under the terms of the deal a year ago, Walter bought a controlling interest in the Lakers, totaling 85%, from the Buss family (Jerry and Jeanie Buss) for around $10 billion. Walters
and his partner already owned a 27% minority stake.Overall, the most current reading of Lakers’ annual revenue, according to Forbes, is $551 million, and $185 million of that comes from local
cable TV/streaming platform Spectrum SportsNet, according to Sports Business Journal.The Lakers also get around $110 million a year from their share of the NBA national TV platforms
including ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and Amazon PrimeVideo.Sponsorship revenue for the Los Angeles Lakers climbed 15% for the 2025-2026 NBA season, according to SponsorUnited. Total NBA team
sponsorship revenue totalled $1.8 billion across 2,452 deals.The Lakers are among the top five of the fastest-growing NBA teams when it comes to sponsorship revenue — behind the New York
Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Phoenix Suns.The largest of these deals included a major arena naming rights deal for Crypto.com, with an estimated value of $35 million — $700 million over
20 years.The Jersey patch partnership with South Korean food brand Bibigo totaled $20 million/year. They are being replaced with a bigger deal — Albert, a personal finance app — for the
2026-2027 TV season, valued at more than $30 million.