The Houston Rockets are for sale, the team’s president, Tad Brown, announced Monday, sending shockwaves across the N.B.A. and fueling speculation that the team could draw the highest price ever paid for an American sports franchise.
The sale of the Rockets — a stable franchise with two superstars that is coming off a successful season — could be the perfect storm for a record sale in the league. The N.B.A. is already awash with a gushing stream of revenue, and the Rockets are in the country’s fourth-most populated city and have a huge toehold in China, as well.
How much the Rockets will ultimately sell for is anybody’s guess, but it will not be cheap. Forbes estimates that the Rockets are the N.B.A.’s eighth-most valuable franchise and calculates they are worth $1.65 billion. Forbes’s valuations, it should be noted, are just estimates, and 10 months before the Los Angeles Clippers were sold for a record $2 billion, Forbes estimated the team was worth just $575 million.
Brown said there was no timetable for the team’s sale, but that they would not rush the process. Leslie Alexander, the team’s owner, said in a statement, “I’ve made this decision after much deliberation with my family and friends, and do so knowing the franchise is in great shape with the players, coaches and management team in place.”
Alexander, 74, bought the Rockets 24 years ago for $85 million. Alexander made his wealth through investing, but with a sale that could bring 20, 30 or even 40 times the amount he paid for the team, buying the Rockets may have been his savviest investment of all.
