According to three people with knowledge of the facts, Detroit Pistons user Tom Gores and the team have come to terms on a 27 % interest in the Los Angeles Chargers. The agreement still needs to be approved by NFL entrepreneurs.
If completed, the transaction would stop a years-long story involving the four children of Alex Spanos, the longtime owner who bought the Chargers in 1984 for$ 72 million and died in 2018. The transaction’s economic details were not disclosed. Last month, Sportico valued the Chargers at$ 5.22 billion, 18th in the NFL.
Reps for the Chargers, Pistons and Gores declined to comment. The first to share the news was Sports Business Journal.
Alex Spanos ‘ four kids—Dean, Dea, Michael and Alexandra—own 15 % of the Chargers on their own, with another 36 % total held in a family trust. Dea Spanos Berberian filed a complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2021 to try to compel the Chargers ‘ sales. A year later, she filed a complaint that accused her nephew and brother co-trustee, Chargers chair Dean Spanos, of breaching his moral obligation to the faith. Berberian even accused Dean and their nephew, Chargers vice chair Michael Spanos, of orchestrating a” plan to punish, insult and intimidate” her.

Gores is buying Berberian’s 15 % personal stake and her 9 % stake in the family trust, as well as 1 % from each of Dean Spanos ‘ other children. Each Spanos would now have a 24 % stake in the deal, while Gores will have a 27 %. Dean, Alexis and Michael are selling 1 % every for estate planning purposes, according to someone familiar with the details.
The deal would stop all of Berberian’s legal issues against her relatives and the Chargers.
Berberian has been looking into selling her Chargers interest for more than a year. Due to the command problem, a package with Clearlake Capital Group co-founders Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano brokered. The Gores deal does not have a power path, and Dean Spanos may continue to have complete control over the Chargers.
The Chargers are a landlord at SoFi Stadium, where Stan Kroenke and the Los Angeles Rams have almost all of the control over the league, and their income was the second-lowest next month. But playing in the NFL’s second-biggest industry is a boost to the price, on top of the$ 400 million-plus monthly check from the club’s rich TV offers.
Gores bought the Pistons for$ 325 million in 2011. Under Gores, the team has just made the playoffs once, and it finished with the NBA’s worst general report for two straight years, including a 28-game losing run last year. The Pistons fired manager Monty Williams one year into his record-breaking six-year,$ 78 million deal. The Pistons are valued at$ 3.1 billion, 25th in the NBA, according to Sportico.
Gores ‘ role as the owner of the Pistons is unaffected by the agreement.
Gores is for$ 9.4 billion, according to Forbes. In 1995, he founded L. A. based private equity firm Platinum Equity. NFL owners approved an investment by a few PE firms last month, but Gores is making a personal investment and does not include Platinum.

The deal is expected to go up for a ballot at next week’s NFL owners discussions.