Good Sports: BASKETBALL KING
The NBA’s Sacramento Kings have a new owner and savior: Vivek Ranadive. The Indian-American software magnate recently reached an agreement to buy 65 percent of the franchise, valued at $535 million, saving the Kings from an ownership group with designs to move the team to Seattle.
He becomes the NBA’s first owner of Indian descent and joins Pakistani-American Shahid Khan, owner of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, as the only desi owners of major sports franchises in America.
“It’s going to be exciting,” he told USA Today. “We’re going to build a global brand with the Kings. We’re going to give the fans the product that they deserve.”
Ranadive, founder of the $4 billion software company Tibco, was a longtime fan and minority owner of the Golden State Warriors, but had to switch allegiance to his new team.
It is better, after all, to be a king than a warrior.
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