Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is one step closer to becoming the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.
The NBA said in a release Friday evening that the Clippers will be sold to Ballmer, pending approval by the NBA Board of Governors. The transaction requires a three-fourths vote to pass.
The Sterling Family Trust agreed to sell the franchise to Ballmer on Thursday for $2 billion.
"The NBA, Shelly Sterling and the Sterling Family Trust today resolved their dispute over the ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers. Under the agreement, the Clippers will be sold to Steve Ballmer, pending approval by the NBA Board of Governors, and the NBA will withdraw its pending charge to terminate the Sterlings' ownership of the team," the league said in a statement Friday.
In addition, the NBA cancelled next Tuesday's meeting in New York, which could have terminated the team's ownership by a three-fourths vote and turned the asset over to the league for sale.
Mrs. Sterling and the Trust also agreed not to sue the NBA and to indemnify the NBA against lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling.
Donald Sterling's lawyer told multiple media outlets earlier Friday that he was planning to file a $1 billion lawsuit against the league.
The NBA had charged Donald Sterling with damaging the league by making racist comments. He bought the Clippers for $12.5 million in 1981.
If the deal goes through, Los Angeles will be the home of two franchises that were sold for at least $2 billion, as the Dodgers were purchased for $2.1 billion in 2012.
[SportsNetwork.com]
