Casino owner and reality TV star Tilman Fertitta is buying the Houston Rockets for $2.2 billion, the most ever paid for a National Basketball Association franchise.
The price eclipses the previous record of $2 billion paid by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for the Los Angeles Clippers.
“I am truly honored to have been chosen as the next owner of the Houston Rockets,” Fertitta, a Houston resident and native of Galveston, Texas, said. “This is a life-long dream come true.”
Forbes earlier this year valued the Rockets at $1.65 billion, eighth-highest in the league, with revenue of $244 million. That’s a massive jump from the $85 million the seller, businessman Leslie Alexander, paid for the team in 1993, the year before the Rockets won consecutive championships behind Hall of Fame center Hakim Olajuwon.
“I am excited to welcome and pass the torch to Tilman,” Alexander said. “He is a Houstonian, business leader and committed to the success and excellence of the Rockets both on and off the basketball court.”
Fertitta, 60, owns Golden Nugget Casinos, operator of gaming properties in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev., and is chairman and CEO of the Landry’s restaurant chain. He also is chairman of the University of Houston board of regents.
His CNBC show, Billion Dollar Buyer, has been renewed for a second season, according to a Forbes report.
