New York Islanders owner Charles Wang has reportedly been sued by prospective team owner Andrew Barroway, the New York Daily News reports, for backing out of a "handshake agreement" that would have seen Barroway purchase the team for $420 million.
Islanders owner reportedly sued for $10 million after rebuffing sale of team
The Islanders owner allegedly saw the $2 billion price tag for the Los Angeles Clippers and balked at a relatively-paltry $420 million sale of his own team.
Bruce Bennett
Barroway wants $10 million from Wang in the lawsuit.
Wang’s alleged change of heart came after Steve Ballmer bid a whopping $2 billion on the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, something Barroway called “unrelated” to any sale of the Islanders.
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Talks between Barroway and Wang about a potential sale of the Isles have been ongoing since at least March, which is precisely when Barroway claims a deal was agreed upon between the two sides.
Wang “without notice, abruptly refused to proceed to close the transaction and honor the terms of their 70-page purchase agreement but instead “improperly sought to renegotiate the already agreed upon price” in March.
In midsummer, according to court papers, Wang demanded $548 million for the team. When Barroway refused, Wang notified him on Aug. 1 that he had sold the team to other bidders.
Barroway’s group, NY ICE, says that the two sides negotiated a “break up price” of $10 million in the event that the deal were to fall through, hence the $10 million lawsuit filed Monday.
If you’re Charles Wang and you think you can get north of $500 million for your team in an eventual sale, it’d make sense to take a $10 million hit while pushing away a $420 million deal, but we’ll see if that’s what will happen here. The Islanders never seem able to avoid the off ice drama, do they?
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