Michael Jordan Selling Majority Ownership Stake in Charlotte Hornets

FILE - Michael Jordan looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)
FILE - Michael Jordan looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)
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Michael Jordan Selling Majority Ownership Stake in Charlotte Hornets

FILE - Michael Jordan looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)
FILE - Michael Jordan looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)

Michael Jordan is finalizing a deal to sell the majority share of the Charlotte Hornets, a move that will end his 13-year run overseeing the organization, the team announced Friday.
Jordan is selling to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, the Hornets said. Plotkin has been a minority stakeholder in the Hornets since 2019. Schnall has been a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks since 2015 and is in the process of selling his investment in that team.
It's not clear how long the process of selling will take to be finalized by the NBA's Board of Governors. Jordan is expected to keep a stake in the Hornets, the team he bought in 2010 for about $275 million, The Associated Press reported.

Jordan's decision to sell leaves the 30-team NBA without any Black majority ownership.
“In the same way that it’s wonderful that one of our greatest, Michael Jordan, could become the principal governor of a team, he has the absolute right to sell at the same time,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month at the NBA Finals. “Values have gone up a lot since he bought that team, so that is his decision.”
In that same news conference at the finals, Silver said the Board of Governors are focused on diversity in ownership groups.
“I would love to have better representation in terms of principal governors,” Silver said. “It’s a marketplace. It’s something that if we were expanding that the league would be in a position to focus directly on that, but in individual team transactions, the market takes us where we are.”
The sale price was not immediately announced; ESPN, citing sources, said the franchise was being valued at $3 billion. The most recent sale of an NBA team came when Mat Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns, a deal that when struck in December valued that franchise at $4 billion.
Through spokesperson Estee Portnoy, Jordan declined comment.
For as great as Jordan was on the court — national champion at North Carolina, two-time Olympic gold medalist, six-time NBA champion and in the never-ending conversation for best player ever — the Hornets never reached a championship level during his time as the owner.
Charlotte went 423-600 in his 13 seasons as the owner, the 26th-best record over that span in the 30-team league. It never won a playoff series in that time, and hasn't even been to the postseason in any of the last seven seasons.
Other members of the new potential Hornets ownership group — pending the approval — are recording artist J. Cole, Dan Sundheim, Ian Loring, country music singer-songwriter Eric Church, and several local Charlotte investors including Amy Levine Dawson and Damian Mills.



Champions League Draw Serves up a Madrid Derby, Bayern vs. Leverkusen and Liverpool-PSG 

Former Bayern Munich striker Giovane Elber shows the ticket of Atletico Madrid during the UEFA Champions League round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draws, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, 21 February 2025. (EPA)
Former Bayern Munich striker Giovane Elber shows the ticket of Atletico Madrid during the UEFA Champions League round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draws, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, 21 February 2025. (EPA)
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Champions League Draw Serves up a Madrid Derby, Bayern vs. Leverkusen and Liverpool-PSG 

Former Bayern Munich striker Giovane Elber shows the ticket of Atletico Madrid during the UEFA Champions League round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draws, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, 21 February 2025. (EPA)
Former Bayern Munich striker Giovane Elber shows the ticket of Atletico Madrid during the UEFA Champions League round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draws, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, 21 February 2025. (EPA)

A Madrid derby. A German classic. A rare meeting between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Champions League got more heavyweight clashes when the draw for the round of 16 was made Friday.

Defending champion Real Madrid’s reward for ousting 2023 title winner Manchester City is two city derbies against Atletico Madrid — the team it beat in the final in 2014 and 2016.

Bayern Munich was paired with Bayer Leverkusen — the Bundesliga leader against its defending champion, who played a tight 0-0 draw just last weekend.

Liverpool was the top-seeded team in the draw after finishing first in the 36-team standings last month but still got a tough assignment as the Premier League leader was paired with No. 15 seed PSG.

Liverpool and PSG have never met in knockout games in the Champions League or the old European Cup. Their previous meetings were in the group stage in 2018-19, trading home wins in a season that ended with Liverpool winning its sixth European Cup title.

The first-leg games will be played March 4-5, with the return games one week later.

Also in the draw, No. 2 seed Barcelona was paired with Benfica — which it beat 5-4 in Lisbon one month ago — Arsenal will face PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan plays Feyenoord.

Club Brugge, which got into the knockout stage in the 24th and final qualification place, will face Aston Villa, which it already beat in November. Borussia Dortmund will play Lille.

The Madrid and German matchups were not possible in the old Champions League format where teams from the same country could not face each other in the round of 16. The new tennis-style seeded bracket allows for those derbies, and for teams to reunite after already playing each other in the league phase of the competition.