Gores To Buy Pistons Soon?

[RipCity32]

Tom Gores is now the front-runner to purchase the Pistons and the sale of the team could be completed as early as next week, according to sources.

The Pistons would reportedly like to have an agreement in place with a new owner to present to the NBA board of governors Feb. 18-21 in Los Angeles.

Gores declined to comment on the developments while attending Detroit's game in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

Mike Ilitch announced his interest in buying the Pistons in August, but his family's exclusive bargaining agreement to purchase the team expired without a deal seven weeks ago.

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Young, billionaire, Michigan-man.
Love it. Better happen.

 

[Big Bid'Ness]

As soon as he buy them, Fire Dumars lol.

 

[sheed]

I am excited as hell for this to happen. I wanted him to buy the team since day 1. The only thing I'm bummed about is even if he does buy it next week, it won't be approved by the league until that Governors meeting which if I'm correct is after the trade deadline. So we're going to go into the offseason with the same team we have now. BUT it might not be a bad thing because then it would give us the opportunity to have a big summer. That is if Dumars grows a pair, or he gets fired.

 

[sheed]

The Detroit Pistons have agreed this week to designate Tom Gores, a Michigan native and billionaire CEO of the Platinum Equity Group in Los Angeles, as the preferred bidder to buy the NBA team and an affiliate, Palace Sports & Entertainment, the Free Press has learned.

Gores has an exclusive 30-day period to finalize a purchase deal, people familiar with the matter said. It could happen as early as next week.

Mike and Marian Ilitch, owners of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings, had been the early front-runner to buy the Pistons, when owner Karen Davidson gave the Ilitch family an exclusive 30-day shot to finalize a deal in October.
But those talks unraveled, bidding was reopened, and sources familiar with the matter said there had been no meaningful discussion between Davidson and the Ilitches in many weeks.

Gores, 46, grew up in the Flint area and attended Michigan State. In 1995, he founded Platinum Equity, an investment firm that owns around 30 companies with more then $27 billion in annual sales. His Michigan holdings include an auto supplier and a boat manufacturer. Gores is listed on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion.

Neither Gores nor the Pistons would comment today on the exclusive negotiating deal. Davidson was at the team's practice today but declined to comment.

Seeing as Gores has been among the interested bidders since at least August — Davidson hired Citibank last spring to solicit bids — it’s likely that much of the due-diligence work already is completed and that a deal might be concluded quickly.

Gores reiterated his interest in the buying the Pistons after attending their game against the Lakers on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. He declined to comment further about the sale.

In November, when he attended a Pistons-Clippers game in L.A., Gores said “absolutely” he wanted to own the Pistons. He also talked of his love of sports and his desire to help his home state, in part by owning assets in Michigan.
“I think I can make a difference,” he said. “That’s what I’ve done my whole life.”

Forbes has placed the Pistons’ value at $479 million — fourth-highest in the 30-team NBA — but it’s expected that the ultimate selling price will be lower because of the weakness of the Michigan economy, the struggles of the 11-24 team and the possibility of an NBA labor lockout next season.

When the Ilitches first announced interest in the Pistons last summer, they also indicated a desire to build a new dual-purpose stadium in downtown Detroit for the Pistons and Wings. Gores presumably would keep the Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who wants to keep the team in his suburban county, said last month that he was rooting against the Ilitches acquiring the Pistons, in part because a Gores representative told him that Gores had no intention of moving the team.

 

[RipCity32]

Is it really going to take till early February to finalize it?
That would be bullshit..

I'm excited though. This guy sounds great.

 

[Pugz]

hopefully he buys us and then cans the whole front office.

 

[DJT]

I really hope they can get this done quickly for the sake of the Pistons.

 

[RipCity32]

I refuse to follow the team till he buys them.
I'm so fed up with this organization.