Clippers Owner Must Be Forced To Sell Team.

In any event at least she surfs.

I'm sure the NBA will consider their brand, Not to mention the preponderance of dark skinned bodies their industry relies on, then will make an astute and pragmatic decision. Possibly even a moral one.

Nothing more funny than a bunch of climbers making fun of someone else's looks...

In any event at least she surfs.

make him shower with the players....somebody said that upthread

The Clippers are the private property of Sterling. The NBA cannot force him to sell. If indeed the NBA forces him out instead of a combination of external pressures, Sterling has the bankroll to sue the sh#t out of the NBA and in a legal sense, he would most likely win. Luckily, with the advent of the viral video and the internet, Sterling's days are numbered.

If someone owned a McD's franchise, and a private call in which that person made racist comments was leaked to the press, I don't know what would happen. As with the Sterling situation, it would depend to large extent on what the franchise agreement said.
But absent some clear contractual right, it's not self evident that McD's could do anything.
And I'm not sure I see a contractual provision that says "if you get caught making private statements that were recorded without your knowledge and they get leaked and you were being racist, then you have to sell if we want you too . . . "
(Obviously the provisions would be general rather than specific as I wrote, but I'm not so sure that it's likely that there would be general provision that pick up what were intended to be, and ordinarily would would be, private private statements.)

I agree that the NBA and/or the public at large may make Sterling's ownership untenable, but that doesn't mean the NBA can necessarily exert legal pressure.

according to Michael McCann, the director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
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A fine "may be seen as the weak penalty," McCann says, "because Donald Sterling is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.9 billion." He adds that if it follows this path, the NBA would very likely donate the money to charity.

A suspension "would be a bolder step," McCann says. "It's one that the NBA hasn't taken but it's one that I think many people would find to be justified, especially his own players who are clearly upset by the remarks that he allegedly made."

An expulsion would mean that Sterling "would likely sue the NBA for breach of contract, his franchise agreement and potentially an antitrust claim," McCann says.

A long suspension would be one way the NBA could try to pressure Sterling into selling the team. But as McCann tells KPCC, the Clippers owner could make prolonged legal arguments over the fair value of the franchise.