I dont believe anyone would invest billions of dollars into a sports franchise that said you cant move this team. They might have a stipulation there that says we wont move the team for 5 years, or we wont move the team ‘if’ these things happen or ‘if’ these things dont happen.
Most owners are going to want more control over the franchise they bought than that.
First of all, you're operating under the premise that there are more suitors who want to move the team for some reason. Being that I work with multiple billionaire and multi-millionaire investors, they want to make
as few changes as possible to the business model, especially to an
already profitable asset. Management is likely to get wiped out, even then, retaining some for the transition period is typically likely.
Secondly, you're also operating under the false premise that a billionaire would look at a basketball team that is:
A) Profitable
B) Has a suitable and quality arena
C) Has a loyal fan base that is constantly selling out the arena/near selling out
D) In a growing market
And say
YUP! I want to buy
that team and move them to an
untested marketplace - and contrary to the b.s. you've been listening to, an owner can't just up and move the team. And even if they did accept all of the above and still want to move... The league and owners have to approve which is doubtful, at best, and there is absolutely NO assurances relocation would be approved, which is a significant risk on a
billion dollar asset to anyone. Hell, they just forced a billionaire to sell his team. Do you think that didn't go unnoticed?
Whoever is buying this team knows that the chance of the team being moved EVEN IF THEY WANT IT MOVED, is slim at best.
And yes, they want control over the franchise, but that is one thing they virtually have no control over, no matter what, especially given the ruckus after Seattle/OKC.
I'd love if they went to Vegas for personal gain. I'm there frequently, but the odds of any big time investor buying the team with the goal of moving it, will be severely disappointed, IMO - and if they happen to buy it, get rejected for relocation, then what?
Yeah, that's a BIG what for a billion dollar asset they just purposed solely for relocation purposes - which they can't unilaterally decide, once again.