Jeffrey Caplan
Sean “Diddy” Combs wants to buy the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, and NBA star Stephen Curry wants to buy in, reports the New York Daily News.
Videos by Rare
Oh, and if Combs does buy the team, he said he’ll immediately sign controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has remained unsigned this entire season.
The legendary rapper made his intentions known Sunday on social media shortly after Panthers owner Jerry Richardson announced he planned to sell the team in the wake of a sexual harassment allegations against him.
First came Combs’ tweet: “I would like to buy the @Panthers. Spread the word. Retweet!”
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/942572662311841797
Soon after, Curry, the Golden State Warriors All-Star and back-to-back NBA MVP who grew up in North Carolina and played college basketball at Davidson College, tweeted, “I want in.”
I️ want in! https://t.co/XvvC1vo7xI
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) December 18, 2017
The hip-hop mogul Combs then posted a video to his Instagram account that was viewed more than 600,000 times in the first 11 hours it was posted. Judging by the comments on his post, Carolina fans seemed to be on board with Diddy becoming the NFL’s lone African-American owner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc01XBljW_7/
“There are no majority African-American NFL owners. Let’s make history,” Diddy wrote.
However, they weren’t as keen on the idea of bringing in Kaepernick to compete for the starting job, as Combs said on his Instagram post.
That’s not because of Kaepernick’s protest during pregame national anthems that he started two seasons ago, but because the Panthers already have Cam Newton as their starting quarterback. Carolina fans made it clear in the comments section that they’re good with Newton.
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/942596768067411969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nydailynews.com%2Fsports%2Ffootball%2Fsean-diddy-combs-buy-carolina-panthers-article-1.3706068
Combs has had his eye on buying an NFL team for a few years now. In 2013, he told Bloomberg, “I have aspirations to become — it will happen — to become the first African-American majority owner. Not having a small stake but actually owning an NFL team. I think it’s time for that. A majority of the players in the NFL are African-American, but there are no African-American owners. So that’s one of my dreams.”
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There’s a slight hitch in the plan: The Panthers are currently valued at $1 billion, while Diddy’s net worth sits at $820 million, according to Forbes, reports the Daily News.
It’s also common for professional sports franchises to fetch notably higher prices than their listed values, meaning Diddy will need several investors to make his NFL ownership dream come true.
Curry, still in his prime as a player and having a net worth of $47.3 million, certainly makes a lot of sense as a partner in a potential deal.
