The Los Angeles Lakers’ incoming ownership group believes the franchise can more than double in value over the next decade.
For fans, part of that growth plan could come directly out of their wallets.
A group led by Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger is pitching investors on a plan to increase the Lakers’ value from $12.5 billion to $30 billion by 2037, according to The Wall Street Journal. The strategy includes raising ticket revenue, increasing media-rights income and monetizing the Lakers’ global fan base more aggressively.
The most striking piece for ordinary fans is ticket pricing.
According to the Journal, the group believes it can reclaim season tickets currently controlled by brokers and push the average single-game ticket price from roughly $217 to $361. That would represent an increase of about 66% from the figure cited in the investor materials.
That is not a promise that every seat at Crypto.com Arena will suddenly cost 66% more. But it is a clear indication that higher ticket revenue is central to the financial blueprint.
New Owners See Fans as Major Revenue Opportunity
The investor presentation projects Lakers revenue climbing from about $681 million in 2026 to more than $1.6 billion by 2037, while operating profit could rise from roughly $129 million to nearly $590 million.
Thrive Capital, Kushner’s firm, reportedly believes it can generate roughly $150 million in additional near-term revenue by 2028 through ticketing changes, sponsorship growth and cost reductions.
Media rights are another major target.
The ownership group is betting that television and streaming fees attached to Lakers games will continue rising, even as the regional sports network business faces uncertainty. The NBA’s new national media agreements have already dramatically increased leaguewide rights revenue, and the investor materials envision further growth in future negotiations.
For fans, however, the ticket-price projection is much easier to understand than media-rights economics.
Watching the Lakers in person could simply become considerably more expensive.
Jeanie Buss Fighting to Keep Family’s Lakers Stake
The aggressive financial plan also comes during an extraordinary ownership dispute.
Jeanie Buss is suing to block her five siblings from selling the Buss Family Trust’s remaining 17.82% stake to Iger and Kushner. Her siblings voted to exercise their rights to sell the family’s remaining shares after the new buyers agreed to purchase Mark Walter’s controlling interest at the $12.5 billion valuation.
Buss argues a 2017 court order requires the family trust to take reasonable steps to keep her as the Lakers’ controlling owner. If the family’s remaining stake is sold, she would fall below the 15% ownership threshold required to represent the team on the NBA Board of Governors.
The legal battle is not expected to derail Iger and Kushner’s purchase of Walter’s controlling stake, but it could determine whether the Buss family retains any meaningful ownership after nearly five decades.
For Lakers fans, the transition therefore carries two major changes at once.
The Buss era could be nearing its true end.
And the group taking over believes one of the clearest paths to a $30 billion Lakers franchise runs through substantially more valuable — and potentially much more expensive — access to the team.
Lakers Fans Get Bad News From New Owners’ $30 Billion Push