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Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert: I'm not trying to buy Detroit Tigers
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said there is no deal in the works to try to buy the Detroit Tigers.
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Just because Dan Gilbert says he is selling Greektown Casino in Detroit, that doesn't mean he's trying to buy the Tigers.
In an interview with Detroit Free Press business columnist John Gallagher on Tuesday, Gilbert said there is no such deal in the works to try to purchase the baseball organization.
The Tigers were bought by Mike Ilitch in 1992 for $82 million and bequeathed to his son, Chris, after Mike's death in 2017.
Forbes magazine values the Tigers at $1.225 billion.
Rumors swirled in September that Gilbert was interested in buying the team. The founder of Quicken Loans, worth several billion dollars, also owns the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. When the reports seemed to hit a fever pitch, the Free Press couldn't confirm firsthand knowledge of talks between Gilbert and Ilitch.
The Tigers released a statement in late September stating: “Christopher Ilitch is 100 percent committed to long-term Ilitch ownership of the Detroit Tigers.”
Even if Gilbert wanted to buy the Tigers, he would have to divest his interest in casinos according to Major League Baseball rules. Gilbert is the chairman of JACK Entertainment, which operates casinos in Ohio along with Greektown.
Gilbert in 2004 came up short in a bid to buy the Milwaukee Brewers and is a baseball fan who grew up in metro Detroit.
