Hall of Famer Magic Johnson has made some terrific business decisions over the years, and buying the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks has proven to be another one of them. Johnson is part of the Sparks LA Sports ownership group that purchased the team in 2014, and he spoke about that investment during an appearance on the a16z podcast.
“We were losing money,” Johnson said. “… We thought that someday it would change and we wasn’t losing a lot of money, but we were losing money… We’re comfortable with the loss. And we didn’t know it was going to turn around like this… Now the team is worth like $300 million and growing, right? But we only paid a few million for the team, and now it’s where it is.
“But give a lot of the players a lot of credit,” Johnson continued. “… Women’s college basketball took off, and then that fanbase came into the WNBA and started watching that as well. So no, we’re still blown away about the growth of the WNBA and where it’s going.”
The Sparks are actually worth far more than $300 million now. CNBC and Sportico both listed them as the seventh-most valuable WNBA team at $415 million and $400 million, respectively. Talk about hitting the jackpot if you’re Johnson. No one, not even him, saw this coming back in 2014.
Williams Group Holdings owned the Sparks at the time and had lost nearly $12 million on the team over the last seven years. They were projected to lose another $1 million in the 2014 season as well and wanted out.
The Joe Lacob-led Golden State Warriors ownership group was actually the front-runner to buy the Sparks, and they were going to relocate the team. Johnson and his partners, including Mark Walter, ensured that wouldn’t happen.
Johnson didn’t want to share how much they had paid for the Sparks at the time, but we now know it wasn’t a whole lot. You might not have called this a fantastic investment five to six years ago, but the WNBA is flourishing now. Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has been the face of this stunning surge, and the league should keep growing at a rapid pace in the coming years.
Now, the Sparks are far from the only team that Johnson has a stake in. There’s the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the NFL’s Washington Commanders, the MLS’s Los Angeles FC, and the NWSL’s Washington Spirit. Johnson explained here why he likes investing in sports teams.
“So sports, I know we always talk about it,” Johnson said. “Why do I invest? Well, it’s easy, ’cause the valuations are so high and nobody’s ever going to stop watching sports in America. That’s where we get away. That’s our release. That’s our getaway from our everyday work life is to watch sports… The valuations of these teams will continue to skyrocket because of that.”
Johnson was a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers as well, but sold his 4.5% stake in 2010. Considering the Buss family sold their majority stake to Walter at a $10 billion valuation in 2025, the 66-year-old probably has some regrets now.
