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Pistons owner to buy a limited share of Chargers

Originally posted on NFL on ClutchPoints | By Tim Crean | Last updated Sep 28, 2024 8:27 AM ET

Tom Gores, the owner of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons has a deal in place to buy a 27% stake in the Los Angeles Chargers. While the exact dollar figure of the deal is not yet known, Forbes estimates the value of the Chargers at $5.1 billion in 2024, making 27% of the franchise worth around $1.3 billion. The team is currently owned (96%) by four members of the Spanos family — the children of the late Alex Spanos, who bought the team in 1994 — and run by one of the siblings, Dean Spanos.

This proposed transaction “includes the 24% owned by Dea Spanos Berberian and 1% owned by the three other Spanos siblings, Dean, Michael and Alexis Spanos Ruhl,” ESPN reports. “The deal will need final approval from NFL owners and a source told ESPN it is expected to be on the agenda at the NFL league meetings in Atlanta next month.”

Dean Spano will continue to have control of the franchise once Tom Gores is approved as a minority owner and the Spanos family will still own 69% of the team. Gores, the owner of the private equity firm Platinum Equity, bought the Pistons in 2011.

This move ends several years of drama between members of the Spanos family, specifically Dea Spanos Berberian and the rest of the Spanos siblings.

Spanos family drama

Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh (second from left) poses at an introductory press conference at YouTube Theater at SoFi Stadium. From left: Chargers president of business operations A.G. Spanos, Harbaugh, wife Sarah Harbaugh, Susie Spanos, owner Dean Spanos and president of football operations John Spanos. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Alex Spano was a real estate developer who made his billions building apartment complexes in California’s San Joaquin Valley in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. In 1984, he bought 60% of the San Diego Chargers for $48.3 million and eventually owned as much as 97% of the team.

His son Dean took over running the team in 1993 and when Alex dies in 2018 at 93, ownership was split between his two daughters and two sons.

Since Alex’s death, Dea Spanos Berberian has been at odds with the rest of the family.

The legal conflict came into public view in April 2021 when Berberian petitioned the Los Angeles County Superior Court to put the trust up for sale,” ESPN writes. “In June of 2022, Berberian accused Dean Spanos of ‘misogynistic’ behavior, ‘self-dealing’ and repeated ‘breaches of fiduciary duty’ in a lawsuit filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court.”

With the sale to Tom Gores, Dea is effectively cashing out as an owner of the Chargers. ESPN is also reporting that as part of the deal, “Berberian agreed to drop her lawsuits against the Chargers and Dean Spanos, according to a source.”

This article first appeared on NFL on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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