The news that billionaire venture capitalist Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger are buying a controlling stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at a record-breaking $12.5 billion valuation, first reported by ESPN Wednesday morning, came as a shock in more ways than one.

The deal breaks Walter’s own record for the purchase of a professional sports team, less than a year after his $10 billion deal to take a control interest from the Buss family—who sold the team after 46 years—closed last October, and once again resets the rest of the market for the rest of the NBA. This year has also included record-breaking team sales in the NFL and MLB. Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla led an investor group that agreed to buy the Seattle Seahawks for $9.6 billion in August, and private equity manager José E. Feliciano’s family reached a deal in May to buy the San Diego Padres for $3.9 billion.

The decades-long surge in sports team values hasn’t been a linear trajectory—before Walter’s $10 billion splurge for the Lakers last year, the highest prices ever paid for control stakes in sports teams were Bill Chisholm’s $6.1 billion acquisition of the Boston Celtics last year and Josh Harris’ $6.05 billion deal for the Washington Commanders in........

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