(WWJ) – One of Metro Detroit’s wealthiest businessmen has reportedly finally landed a sports team.
Mat Ishbia, the CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage and a former Michigan State basketball walk-on, is closing in on a deal to buy the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The deal, reportedly in the neighborhood of $4 billion, also includes the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
Current Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver has essentially been forced to sell the teams after a series of reports documenting a “toxic workplace culture” since he bought the Suns in 2004, including racist and sexist actions.
Sarver was suspended and fined $10 million in September after a league investigation found him responsible for "workplace misconduct and organizational deficiencies." Soon after, he announced his intentions to sell the team, which he bought for just over $400 million in 2004.
Ishbia has been looking to buy a sports team, reportedly making an offer to buy the NFL’s Denver Broncos back in the spring. He also said this fall he was considering a bid to buy the Washington Commanders.
Ishbia’s Pontiac-based UWM recently surpassed fellow MSU alum Dan Gilbert’s Detroit-based Rocket Mortgage as the nation’s largest originator of mortgage loans. Gilbert owns the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
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