Aspiration Reportedly Doubled Intuit's $550M Bid for Naming Rights to Clippers Arena
The Los Angeles Clippers reportedly turned down an arena naming rights offer from Aspiration that would have been worth around a billion dollars, according to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. The Clippers chose Intuit instead.
Aspiration, now bankrupt, is the same company at the center of an NBA investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap after Aspiration signed Kawhi Leonard to a $28 million endorsement deal. Pablo Torre first reported on Leonard's endorsement deal.
Steve Ballmer, the Clippers owner, invested $50 million in Aspiration back in 2021, while the team agreed on a $300 million partnership with the company that same year. Leonard's four-year, $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration was signed in 2022. Torre reported that the deal had a clause that would void the entire agreement if Leonard left the Clippers.
The organization has denied that it had anything to do with the agreement or attempted to circumvent the salary cap in any way.
"Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration," the Clippers said in a statement. "Any contrary assertion is provably false: The team ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022-23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations. Neither the Clippers nor Mr. Ballmer was aware of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government instituted its investigation. The team and Mr. Ballmer stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can."
The Clippers later added that "the notion that Steve invested in Aspiration in order to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard is absurd. ... There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same team."
Aspiration has been charged with fraud by the Justice Department, and co-founder and board member Joseph Sanberg pleaded guilty to "defrauding multiple investors and lenders" to the tune of $248 million in August. The company filed for bankruptcy in March.
As for the Clippers, major punishments could be levied against them if the NBA finds evidence of salary cap circumvention. Per ESPN's Baxter Holmes, "Penalties can include fines up to $7.5 million, direct forfeiture of draft picks, voiding any player contract and a suspension—up to a year—for any team personnel found to have engaged in such a violation."
One wrinkle to the current investigation, however, is that the NBA also reportedly investigated Leonard and his uncle, Dennis Robertson, after his free agency in the summer of 2019 when he first signed with the Clippers.
As Sam Amick of The Athletic reported at the time, "Sources say the league was told that Robertson asked team officials for part ownership of the team, a private plane that would be available at all times, a house and—last but certainly not least—a guaranteed amount of off-court endorsement money that they could expect if Leonard played for their team. All of those items, to be clear, would fall well outside the confines of the league's collective bargaining agreement."
It's the "guaranteed amount of off-court endorsement money" part that is surely raising eyebrows around the league after the latest reporting surrounding Leonard, Aspiration and the company's ties to the Clippers.
