S. Samuel
Hollywood married couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith are taking their talent to Philadelphia by becoming partial owners of the city's professional basketball team, the 76ers.
Their ownership was confirmed Tuesday (October 18) afternoon.
A 46-year-old billionaire, Joshua Harris leads a new ownership team that includes fellow Wharton Grad David Blitzer, former NBA player agent and Sacramento Kings executive Jason Levien and Hollywood stars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett- Smith. “My partners and I are thrilled to have become owners of the Sixers,” said Harris. “It is an honor to be a part of this storied franchise — we have a lot of work to do but we have a rich history, a strong foundation and a bright future.” (Fox News)
The team’s chief executive officer Adam Aron also revealed plans to make tickets more affordable.
“I’m announcing today that going forward, we are slashing – and I mean slashing – ticket prices on individual game tickets on just under 9,000 seats at the Wells Fargo Center for each and every Sixers home game,” Aron said. “Indeed on thousands of seats each night, our ticket prices will be cut by 50 percent or more. This is not a sale or a promotion. These are our new ticket prices.” (CSN Philly)
Last month, rap mogul and New Jersey Nets co-owner Jay-Z said the Garden State team’s move to Brooklyn, New York next year would also mean a new name.
On Monday morning, the entertainment mogul announced that the NBA Nets would have a new name once they take the court at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in approximately one year. “We’ve decided that the final name would be the Brooklyn Nets,” said the rapper who grew up only minutes away at the Marcy Houses and later at 560 State Street. (My Fox NY)
In 2009, rap star Lil Wayne hinted at retiring from music and going into sports team ownership.
“I always said I ain’t wanna do this no more after 35, I ain’t wanna do it no more,” Wayne revealed in an interview withradio personality Tim Westwood. “So any time before 30 and 35, I might give it up. [But now] I gotta work as hard as I can so I ain’t gotta look back. [When I retire, I’ll] do something else, I’m gonna retire from this and probably jump into some ownership of some sports team or you know, I’m very heavy into sports. Any sport. [I’d want ownership] of the team. It doesn’t matter, it could be basketball, it could be baseball, of course it wouldn’t be baseball, there’s too much money to own that, but it could be basketball or football, it wouldn’t matter. I could buy into a baseball team with someone.” (“Tim Westwood TV”)
Check out some 76ers highlights down below:
