Gores Gets Bid Rights To Palace

Tom Gores, brother of Paradigm principal Sam Gores and a Michigan native, has been given a 30-day exclusive bidding window to purchase Palace Sports & Entertainment and the Detroit Pistons NBA team, according to sources familiar with the deal.

An agreement reportedly could come at any time, the sources told the Detroit Free Press. Mike and Marian Ilitch, the current owners of baseball’s Detroit Tigers and the NHL’s Red Wings, were considered frontrunners and earlier also had a 30-day exclusive bidding right from Pistons owner Karen Davidson. However, that deal reportedly unraveled and bidding was reopened.

Gores, the billionaire chairman of Platinum Equity Group in Los Angeles, grew up near Flint, Mich., and attended Michigan State University. He founded Platinum Equity, which owns some 30 firms with more than $27 billion in annual sales, and is personally estimated to be worth $2.2 billion.

It’s believed Gores will keep the Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and has no interest in moving the team to another city, according to the Free Press.

The sale will likely be for significantly less than the $479 million value estimated by Forbes in 2009, thanks to the ailing economy, the paper reported. The package will include DTE Energy Music Theatre and the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Talks with Mike Ilitch reportedly broke off in early November and were never seriously resumed.

Any deal to sell the Pistons would have to be approved by a majority of NBA owners, which is likely a mere formality provided an agreement is reached and negotiations completed before the owners’ April meeting.