Mark Walter is listed as controlling owner of the Los Angeles Sparks, per League release.
Ownership timeline
| Date | Event | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Control sale | Kathy Goodman / Carla Christofferson group → Mark Walter, Magic Johnson and Dodgers partners. Not established from available sources. | League release |
| 2014-02 | Ownership role on record | principal; stake not disclosed. | League release |
| 2025 | Not a wnba transaction (context) | Buss family (Lakers) → Mark Walter. Not applicable (lakers sale did not transfer the sparks). | League release |
| 2025 | Facility announced | Sparks training facility | Team release |
| May 1, 2026 | Sportico valuation estimate | $400M (publisher estimate, not a price) | Sportico report |
| May 4, 2026 | CNBC valuation estimate | $415M (publisher estimate, not a price) | CNBC report |
| 2026-08 | Facility status: under construction | Sparks training facility | Team release |
| September 4, 2026 | Team governor named | Eric Holoman (managing partner and governor, per Sept. 4, 2026 team release) | Team release |
New from FCB: 8 dated, sourced events compiled from FCB's ledger into one timeline. Permalink: https://fullcourtbuckets.com/wnba/owners/mark-walter/#timeline
Stake and roles compared
Mark WalterStake: not disclosed. No investor at any of the 15 active teams has a disclosed stake in FCB's register. Team governor: Eric Holoman (managing partner and governor, per Sept. 4, 2026 team release) (1 of 15 governors sourced). NBA relationship: Shared control (Lakers, since Oct 2025).
Sources
- https://sparks.wnba.com/news/la-sparks-announce-a-150m-investment-in-state-of-the-art-practice-facility-to-open-in-time-for-the-2027-season · archive.org lookup
- https://sparks.wnba.com/news/los-angeles-sparks-name-ariana-andonian-general-manager · archive.org lookup
- https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/04/7-los-angeles-sparks.html · archive.org lookup
- https://www.nba.com/news/nba-approves-sale-majority-interest-lakers-mark-walter · archive.org lookup
- https://www.sportico.com/valuations/teams/2026/wnba-team-values-2026-valkyries-liberty-fever-1234891620/ · archive.org lookup
- https://www.wnba.com/news/wnba-decade-in-review-2014 · archive.org lookup
Photo: Mark Walter in 2025.jpg by Prime Minister's Office of Japan (首相官邸), CC BY 4.0; cropped by FCB.
Full dataset, methods and corrections: WNBA team owners 2026. Corrections: ryan@fullcourtbuckets.com. License: FCB data and text are free to use and republish (CC0); photos and linked documents keep their own licenses.
How this story was made: Full Court Buckets articles are written by Ryan Moalemi, sometimes with AI assistance, and every stat is checked against official WNBA box scores and the sources cited in the story. How we make Full Court Buckets