HAPPY NEW YEAR, L.A. SPARKS' FANS!
The franchise is, for all intents and purposes, dead right now as the WNBA tries to find new ownership for the franchise.
SHOCKING NEWS!
Here is the post from the L.A. Times. League officials have confirmed its accuracy to me. Read it and weep, Sparks fans!
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The WNBA is searching for a new Sparks owner after Sparks Chairman Paula Madison told the league her family-owned company would no longer be involved with the
team, The Times has learned.
“This was a big surprise to us,” WNBA President
Laurel Richie said Thursday. “Right before the
holidays, I got a call from Paula letting me know thatshe and her family were no longer in a position to
continue with the Sparks.”
The WNBA is not taking over control of the Sparks,
however.
Asked if the Sparks would field a team for the 2014
season, or if the franchise would fold, Richie
repeatedly said that several entities have expressed
an interest in owning a WNBA team and the league is
exploring those options regarding the Sparks.
The Sparks’ front-office staff, including General
Manager Penny Toler and President Vincent Malcolm,
have been laid off. Sparks Coach Carol Ross and her
staff have also lost their jobs.
The Times obtained a copy of an email that was sent by Malcolm to team employees on Tuesday: “… we regret to inform you that effective December 31, 2013 you no
longer will be employed by the Los Angeles Sparks.”
The players, however, have gotten paid and their
benefits will continue, according to a WNBA spokesman.
Calls to Sparks minority owner Kathy Goodman and Ross for comment were not immediately returned.
The Sparks are one of the WNBA's original teams and
won championships in 2001 and 2002. The late Lakers
owner Jerry Buss sold the Sparks in 2006 to an
investment group led by Goodman, a former film
executive, and attorney Carla Christofferson.
Majority owner Madison, a former NBC executive and
partner of Williams Group Holdings LLC, became the
Sparks’ chairman in 2007, with an ownership group that
included Goodman, Christofferson and former Sparks
star Lisa Leslie.
The WNBA started out with eight teams in 1997 and grew to 16 before several franchises folded — it now
fields 12 teams, including the Sparks.
The league has been dogged by financial concerns for
years.
In 2012 the WNBA’s average attendance fell to a record low of 7,457, according to SportsBusiness Daily. In
2013 the league said its overall attendance rose by
1%.
Richie said the Sparks’ problems do not reflect on the financial health of the rest of the teams in the
league.
“This is an issue for a particular ownership group,”
Richie said. “We are very respectful of that and we are knee deep in exploring what this means for us and
what our plan is going forward.”
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When I find out more- you will know about it!
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