The $10bn LA Lakers sale proves sports have outgrown even most billionaires

Jeanie Buss, center, is the daughter of Jerry Buss, who bought the LA Lakers in 1979; they have since operated like one of the world’s largest family businesses. Photograph: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

The sale of the Los Angeles Lakers is many things.

First of all, it is a record. The glitziest team in basketball is changing hands at a valuation of $10bn, the biggest ever for a sports franchise. Second, it is probably an excellent deal for the buyer, even at that astonishing valuation. And third, the shift in majority ownership from the Buss family to an investment group led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, is something else: inevitable.