Sources: Pistons owner set to buy Chargers stake

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Michael Rothstein

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Michael Rothstein

ESPN Staff Writer

Sep 27, 2024, 04:26 PM ET

LOS ANGELES — Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores has agreed to purchase a limited share of the Chargers, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.

Gores has an agreement in place to purchase 27% of the 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. 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.

The siblings each agreed to sell 1% for estate planning purposes, according to a source. The NFL and the Chargers declined to comment.

Sports Business Journal first reported the deal earlier Friday.

The sale would end a tumultuous few years for the Spanos family. Berberian filed multiple lawsuits dating back to 2021, including one that sought to force the sale of the Chargers. As part of this deal, however, Berberian agreed to drop her lawsuits against the Chargers and Dean Spanos, according to a source.

Under this transaction, 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 agreement to purchase 27% of the Chargers will be a personal investment for Tom Gores, a source told ESPN, and not part of his private equity firm, Platinum Equity. Gores will have no governance rights over the team as part of the deal. Carlos Osorio/AP

This would be the second sports franchise Gores has an ownership stake in after purchasing the Pistons in 2011, which he did along with his private equity firm, Platinum Equity. In 2015, Gores bought out Platinum Equity’s shares in the Pistons to become the full owner.

The Chargers deal will be a personal investment for Gores, a source told ESPN, and not part of Platinum Equity. Gores will have no governance rights over the team as part of the deal.

This is the first known agreed-upon potential transaction since the league approved the use of private equity firms to purchase up to 10% of passive stakes in franchises in August. However this is not a deal where a private equity firm is involved.

Alex Spanos bought the San Diego Chargers in 1984, and Dean Spanos took over managing the franchise in 1994. 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.

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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.

“It is unfortunate that our sister Dea, who clearly has no interest in continuing to participate in the family’s businesses, has resorted to leveling false and provocative charges in an attempt to impose her will on the rest of the family,” the families of Dean, Alexis and Michael Spanos said in a statement in 2022. “The three of us and our children, representing more than 75% of the family and its ownership of its businesses, stand united in support of our parents’ and grandparents’ wishes, including as to the continued ownership and operation of the Chargers.”

Spanos Ruhl also released a statement on her own in 2022 about the accusations Berberian made against Dean Spanos.

“The statements made in today’s court filing about my brother Dean Spanos are outrageously untrue,” the statement read. “Throughout this entire ordeal that was instigated without justification by my sister Dea Berberian, my brother Dean has been unfailingly respectful of me and of my wishes. And he has been fighting, along with my brother Michael and me, to fulfill the wishes of our mother, Faye, relating to our family and our businesses. To characterize Dean as somehow being less than fully respectful of the women in our family is just not right.”

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