By Shams Charania, Eric Nehm and Sam Amick
American businessman Jimmy Haslam and Haslam Sports Group are in serious talks to buy Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry’s stake in the Bucks, league sources tell The Athletic.
If Lasry agrees to finalize the deal, Haslam would join the ownership group with current co-owner Wes Edens. Lasry has spent recent weeks contemplating the decision to potentially sell his Bucks stake to Haslam Sports Group, sources said.
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Edens and Lasry bought the Bucks from Herb Kohl in 2014 for $550 million. As part of the sale though, Kohl promised to donate $100 million to a new arena to help ensure the team remained in Milwaukee. That arena, Fiserv Forum, was built and opened in August of 2018 and hosted the Bucks’ 2021 NBA championship victory, the franchise’s first NBA title since 1971.
Sources who were granted anonymity so that they could speak freely tell The Athletic this process with Haslam began after Lasry considered selling his stake in the Bucks to American businessman Mat Ishbia before Ishbia bought controlling interest of the Phoenix Suns. Haslam entered the conversation after Ishbia moved on to the Suns and joined Edens courtside for the Bucks’ 123-114 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 30, 2022.
Haslam, 68, is an American businessman, who is the chairman of the board of the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain. His father, Jim, founded the Pilot Oil Corporation in 1958 and Pilot Company is now the fifth largest privately held company in the United States, according to a Forbes list from 2022. Per Forbes, the company’s 2022 revenue was $41.9 billion and the company employs 30,000 people.
Haslam is already the owner of two professional sports franchises, the Cleveland Browns in the NFL and the Columbus Crew in the MLS. Haslam has been involved in the ownership of professional sports franchises since 2008 when he bought a minority interest in the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
Haslam Sports Group has continued to scan the business space for more ownership opportunities recently, with a specific focus on the NBA.
In 2012, Haslam sold his minority stake in the Steelers to purchase the Cleveland Browns from Randy Lerner and take control of the franchise for $1 billion. Since taking over the franchise midway through the 2012 season, the Browns have a 55-113-1 record and they’ve made just one playoff appearance in 2020. Haslam took over the Columbus Crew at the start of 2019 and the team won the MLS Cup in 2020.
(Photo: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images)