Pistons Owner Tom Gores to Buy 27% Stake in Chargers

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores agreed to purchase a 27% stake in the Los Angeles Chargers on Friday, according to multiple reports.

Gores has an agreement in place to buy a minority share of the NFL franchise, which includes the 24% owned by Dea Spanos Berberian and 1% owned by the three other Spanos siblings: Dean, Michael, and Alexis Spanos Ruhl.

Source closes to Gores confirmed that the deal has been agreed to in principle. However, the deal still requires final approval from NFL owners. The purchase is expected to be completed over the next two months.

The Chargers were valued at $5.1 billion by Forbes in August. The siblings each agreed to sell 1% for estate planning purposes, according to ESPN’s Kris Rhim and Michael Rothstein.

NEWS: Billionaire @DetroitPistons owner and Platinum Equity founder Tom Gores has deal in place to buy 27% of the NFL's @chargers, a deal intended to settle a long-running feud between Chargers owner Dean Spanos and his sister. https://t.co/cPoZHtVZGd

— Ben Fischer (@BenFischerSBJ) September 27, 2024

Furthermore, the Spanos family has struggled to overcome a series of financial problems since the team moved from San Diego to Los Angeles in 2017. Gores’ minority stake also settles a feud involving Dean Spanos, Dean’s sister Dea Berberian, and their other two siblings.

Berberian filed multiple lawsuits dating back to 2021, including one that sought to force the sale of the Chargers. As part of this deal, Berberian agreed to drop her lawsuits against the Chargers and Dean Spanos, per Rhim and Rothstein.

In June 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.

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores decided to purchase a stake in the Los Angeles Chargers for a “personal investment”

Alex Spanos, the father of Dean, bought the San Diego Chargers in 1984. Dean Spanos was named team president and chief executive officer of the Chargers by his father in early 1994.

Moreover, Dean took over full ownership after his father’s death in 2018. The legal conflict surfaced in April 2021 when Berberian petitioned the Los Angeles County Superior Court to try and force the sale of the team.

With the purchase, Dean Spanos will still have complete control of the franchise. Spanos and his two siblings will own 69% of the team. Non-family members own the remaining 4% of the Chargers.

The Chargers would be the second sports franchise Gores has an ownership stake in after purchasing the Pistons in 2011. Gores also bought out Platinum Equity’s shares in the Pistons to become the full owner in 2015.

Additionally, the NFL franchise is reportedly a “personal investment” for Gore, not part of Platinum Equity. He will have no governance rights over the team as part of the deal.

Per ESPN’s report, this is the first known transaction since the league approved the use of private equity firms to purchase up to 10% of passive stakes in franchises in August. Nonetheless, a private equity firm is not involved in this deal.

According to his biography, Tom Gores is a Michigan State graduate and a longtime Los Angeles resident. As of September 2024, Gores’ net worth is $9.4 billion, according to Forbes. That’s No. 287 in the world.

His Pistons open training camp on Monday, and their season opener is Oct. 23 at home against the Indiana Pacers.