When Private Equity Comes for Your Favorite Team
The Daily
08/21/26
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Last week, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers announced he was selling the basketball team for $12.5 billion — the highest price ever paid for a professional sports team. The deal has shocked the sports world and drawn new attention to a growing trend: Big groups of investors have been buying up professional sports teams as the franchises chase skyrocketing valuations.
Today, Pablo Torre, the host of “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” explains the deal and how big money is transforming our relationship with the sports we love.
Guest: Pablo Torre, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the host of “Pablo Torre Finds Out.”
Background reading:
- The deal for the Los Angeles Lakers valued the team at a record $12.5 billion, eclipsing the $10 billion paid for the franchise just last year.
- The transaction for the Lakers reflects the huge profit potential of major sports franchises.
Photo: Logan Riely/NBAE, via Getty Images
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
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Previous Episode
For the past 18 months, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has remade the top ranks of the U.S. military — dismissing or sidelining many whose rise he believes was aided by D.E.I. and replacing them with officers who fit his definition of merit. In the process, many argue he’s prioritizing loyalty to him and his ideas over loyalty to the military itself.
Today, Greg Jaffe, a New York Times reporter who covers the Pentagon and the U.S. military, takes us inside the hiring and firing for a single job that has become a case study for Hegseth’s approach.
Guest: Greg Jaffe, a reporter covering the Pentagon and the U.S. military for The New York Times.
Background reading:
- Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Mr. Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.
- Mr. Hegseth fired the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who spent roughly half of her 40-year career at sea, commanding a destroyer, two carrier strike groups and the U.S. Sixth Fleet.
Photo: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
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Next Episode
The author Priya Parker says the key to human connection is to lean into the fight.
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- For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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