Ishbia agrees to buy Suns, Mercury for $4 billion
Mortgage executive Mat Ishbia has agreed in principle to buy a majority stake of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury from the embattled owner Robert Sarver for $4 billion, the sides announced Tuesday.
The sale is expected to take several weeks to complete. Ishbia — who is chairman, president and chief executive of United Wholesale Mortgage, which bills itself as the nation’s largest mortgage lender — will be subjected to a vetting process by the NBA, and once that is complete, the league’s board of governors will have to approve the sale.
The board isn’t scheduled to meet until March, though it could convene virtually if the vetting process is completed beforehand.
Forbes recently listed Ishbia’s net worth at $5.1 billion. Ishbia is a former Michigan State player under coach Tom Izzo, and was a member of the Spartans’ NCAA championship team in 2000.
If the sale closes at $4 billion, it would be the largest purchase in NBA history. Joe Tsai bought the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center for $3.3 billion in 2019, and Tilman Fertitta purchased the Houston Rockets for $2.2 billion in 2017.
Argentina abandons parade
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA » A parade to celebrate the Argentine World Cup champions was abruptly cut short as millions of people poured onto thoroughfares, highways and overpasses in a chaotic attempt to catch a glimpse of the national team that won one of the greatest World Cup finals of all time.
So many jubilant, flag-waving fans
swarmed the capital that the players had to abandon the open-air bus transporting them to Buenos Aires and get on helicopters for a flyover of the capital that the government billed as an aerial parade.
Some fans continued celebrating in the streets, while others headed out of Buenos Aires with long faces, complaining they were not able to pay their respects to the team that brought home the country’s first World Cup trophy since 1986.
French to go after abusers
PARIS » The French soccer federation wants to go after social media users who targeted some of the national team’s players with racist comments following France’s loss in the World Cup final.
The federation said some players were hit by “unacceptable racist and hateful comments on social networks” and that it planned to file a complaint against those that posted abuse.
“French government officials have expressed their indignation following the insults. Isabelle Rome, the minister in charge of gender equality, said Kylian Mbappe and Kinglsey Coman were among those abused.
Mbappe and Coman are Black.
Masters to keep criteria
Players who defected from the PGA Tour to join Saudi-funded LIV Golf are still welcome at the Masters next year, even as Augusta National officials expressed disappointment in the division it has caused in golf.
The Masters, the smallest field among the four majors, is by invitation and there was some question whether it would honor the PGA Tour suspending players — including past Masters champions — for joining a rival league.
Sixteen players with LIV Golf are among the 78 players currently eligible for the Masters. That includes six Masters champions — Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel.
Kipyokei gets 6-year ban
MONACO » Kenyan marathoner Diana Kipyokei has been banned for six years and stripped of her 2021 Boston Marathon title for doping and tampering, the Athletics Integrity Unit said Tuesday.
Kipyokei’s urine sample after winning in Boston in October 2021 had traces of triamcinolone acetonide — an anti-inflammatory prohibited at races when an athlete does not have permission to use it as a medication.
The AIU said Kipyokei “provided false/misleading information” in trying to explain her use of the substance, “including fake documentation which she alleged came from a hospital.”