I’m sure you knew this already, because you and your drinking buddies had been working on your submission over the weekend: Today is the first day to submit formal bids to buy the Golden State Warriors.
This is where wishes meet reality. Like when you put a home up for sale and you work with a realtor to set a price -- but you don’t know what it is really worth until the offers start coming in.
ESPN is estimating that four or five offers will come in.
Owner Chris Cohan has expected a sale of at least $400 million and maybe up to $500 million. This is the only NBA team in a very high-income market, at team with a very loyal following. That has to be worth something.
But then there’s reality.
The richest guy in the bidding -- Larry Ellison, owner of Oracle -- has had his people estimate the worth of the franchise at $315 million. He is not likely to bid much more than that. Other ownership groups may go higher, but you also may be able to question how their finances come together. Larry Ellison can simply write a check for the sale amount at any point during the process. (Look at it this way, everybody is talking about how rich new Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is worth -- Ellison is worth more than double him. About $28 billion)
Cohan may simply hold out if he doesn’t get a number he wants for the sale. And that would be bad for the team and the league. This is a franchise (and a fan base) that deserve better.