The Clippers will have a new owner next season but the “Wicked Witch of the NBA West” isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Shelly Sterling’s two billion dollar sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was finalized on Tuesday, but the details of the transaction and what role Shelley will have with the team was made public for the first time.
Unfortunately for the Clippers players and their fans, the Sterling family will still have a large presence with the team moving forward. Despite the completion of the sale to Ballmer, Donald Sterling’s wife, Shelly, will retain up to 10 percent ownership or roughly 200 million, which will be placed into a charitable foundation that she will operate.
In addition to the ownership stake through the trust, Shelly Sterling will also receive the following perks:
10 tickets in sections 101 or 111 for all Clippers home games.
2 courtside tickets for all Clippers home games.
6 parking spots in Lot C for every game.
12 VIP passes including all access to the Lexus Club, the Arena Club, the Chairman’s Lounge, the Media room and more for each Clippers game.
3 championship rings for any NBA title that the Los Angeles Clippers win.
Title of “Owner Emeritus”.
Title of “Number One Fan” for the rest of her life.
So there you have it. While the king is exiled, the queen will still be sitting in her courtside thrown reminding everyone of the dismal mediocrity that ruled the Clippers for the better part of four decades.
Instead of Donald’s smug face raining down racist remarks at his players like Baron Davis and Chris Paul, it will be his estranged wife and longtime partner in business. Shelly, whose comments may have not been caught on tape like her husband’s, is also known for her bigoted unpleasantries and was part of the discriminatory housing law suit brought on against her and her husband for discriminating against African Americans and Hispanics.
Shelly Sterling might best be remembered for her performances posing as a government official in order to illegally gain access into the homes of the minority tenants that her and her husband were trying to evict for no reason other than racial prejudice.
If you think the “owner emeritus” and “Number One Fan” titles are a little absurd to put into a contract it is because they are. No owner in the history of professional sports has ever asked for such ridiculous clauses to be placed into a contract and never before has an owner been so attention starved that they would need to be legally dubbed “The Clipper’s Number One Fan.”
The fact that the Sterling’s will still be affiliated with the organization should come at no surprise to anyone considering how hard they fought publicly to retain the team, but perhaps the fact that Donald’s ban from the Clippers for life will still remain in tact can be a silver lining in this entire debacle.
Although the battle may be over, the war has just begun as the NBA counter-sued Donald Sterling on his $1 billion antitrust suit just minutes after the sale of the team was made final. Sterling’s suit against the league is still ongoing, but the NBA believes that Sterling signed a document in July of 2005 indemnifying the league against losses and litigation. Additionally, in a deal struck with Shelly Sterling before the sale of the team to Ballmer, Shelly signed a document promising that neither she nor her husband would engage the NBA in litigation.
In addition to the antitrust suit against the NBA, Donald Sterling also filed separate lawsuits claiming fraud on both the parts of the NBA and his wife Shelly. It appears that the legal battle between Donald Sterling and the NBA will go on for quite a while, but at least the sideshow that hung over the Clippers like a dark storm cloud is officially out the door and the Clippers are now able to move on with Ballmer and their new official “Number One Fan.”
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