A vote by the NBA’s Board of Governors approved the sale, 29-0, with the Cleveland Cavaliers — owned by Ishbia’s business rival Dan Gilbert of Rocket Mortgage — abstaining.
Ishbia, a former walk-on guard for the Michigan State basketball team and an avid financial supporter of the athletic department, had long sought to buy a professional sports team, including bids for the Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos in recent years. The purchase also includes the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA.
The final details of the deal are expected to be completed this week.
The announcement from the NBA came the same day as Rocket Mortgage told independent mortgage brokers it will cover the cost of penalties and litigation for those that have signed United Wholesale Mortgage Holdings Corp.’s “All In” pledge barring brokers that do business with it from originating loans with Rocket and one other lender.
Ishbia has an ultimatum that brokers who continued to do business with UWM and Rocket or Wisconsin-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. would face liquidation damages of $50,000 or more. Ishbia said the companies were harming the broker channel by stealing customers from brokers and funneling them toward their direct-to-customer retail businesses.
Brokers work directly with homebuyers and owners to shop across multiple lenders to find the best mortgage lender for them.
In response, Rocket has called the move “desperate,” as it made inroads in the wholesale market dominated by UWM, which exclusively originates loans through brokers.
In the Phoenix deal, Ishbia’s ownership group includes his brother, Justin, and comes at a cost of about $4 billion, making it the largest sale of an NBA franchise in league history. The Suns’ previous majority owner, Robert Sarver, announced that he would sell the team in September, after he was suspended for a year because of an investigation into his treatment of employees.
Mat Ishbia will be the Suns’ governor, Justin Ishbia will be alternate governor. They now can assume those roles just days before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, and with the Suns squarely in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race.
There are tentative plans to introduce Mat Ishbia on Wednesday.
Forbes recently listed Mat Ishbia’s net worth as just over $5 billion. Ishbia’s company went public in January 2021.
Ishbia also played at Michigan State under coach Tom Izzo and was a member of the Spartans’ NCAA championship team in 2000. Gilbert graduated from MSU in 1983.
Associated Press contributed.