Fox, which recently acquired the Dodgers baseball team for a reported $320 million, has been snapping up sports franchises and forming sports leagues overseas for its burgeoning satellite and broadcast TV networks.
"(This deal) reflects our continued effort to provide quality sports entertainment in the communities where we work and to people across the country," Chase Carey, chairman and chief executive of Fox Television, said in a statement.
Under the complicated deal Fox, owned by Murdoch's media conglomerate News Corp. Ltd., will join in a 20,000-seat sports arena being built on 28 acres in downtown Los Angeles by L.A. Arena Co.
The projected cost of the arena is $300 million, but Fox's portion of the total deal was undisclosed.
Fox also secured rights to an option for a minority stake in the Kings, and it signed a letter of intent to participate with Kings co-owner Philip Anschutz in acquiring a minority stake in the Lakers.
Fox executives and the arena's top brass were tight-lipped about details of the option agreements, but a recent report in the Los Angeles Times said Fox wanted about 40 percent of the Kings, whose biggest success was reaching the Stanley Cup finals in 1993.
Possibly more important is participation in the Lakers, a 10-time winner of the National Basketball Association's championship trophy since 1950 and one of sports' most glamorous franchises. Lakers' lineups have included such stars as Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin "Magic" Johnson and current sensation Shaquille O'Neal.
Under the deal, Fox's stake in the Lakers could approach 10 percent, according to the Times.
Liberty Media Corp., which is controlled by Colorado-based cable TV giant Tele-Communications Inc., is joining Fox in its stake in the sports arena, but will not participate in the sports franchise options.
Lastly, the Los Angeles Clippers, a second NBA team in the city, agreed to play its games in the new arena, marking the first time in professional sports that three franchises will play under one roof.
"(The arrangement) is sure to produce a world-class environment for our fans and our entire organisation and will provide a solid foundation for improving our franchise," said Clippers executive vice president Andy Roeser.
In contrast to the Lakers, the hapless Clippers have never won an NBA championship, often rank near the bottom of their conference and currently have the lowest average attendance in the league.
Fox gains front office access to TV scheduling for the three teams for its expanding Fox Sports Net regional television network, which comprises 21 regional sports channels reaching roughly 58 million U.S. households.
Fox and cable TV broadcaster ESPN, owned by Burbank, California-based Walt Disney Co., compete to air the hottest sports contests in the country, thus capturing the highest ratings and lion's share of advertising dollars.
Moreover, News Corp. needs to fill the air space on the many satellite TV networks in which it has an interest including BSkyB in Britain, which holds the franchise rights for broadcasting English Premier League soccer.
Reuters/Variety.
Reuters
Rupert Murdoch's Fox Group has expanded its sports empire by pushing ahead with an agreement to take a stake in a new arena in Loa Angeles and options in the Los Angeles Lakers basketball and Kings hockey teams.
