New Lakers executive Lon Rosen discusses increased ticket prices, Magic Johnson
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New Lakers president of business operations Lon Rosen said Magic Johnson won’t have any “day-to-day” involvement with the team and hopes fans will renew their season tickets despite some complaining of an enormous increase for next season.
Rosen, who has been an executive vice president and chief marketing officer with the Dodgers since 2012 when Mark Walter and Guggenheim Baseball Management purchased the club, joined the Lakers after Tim Harris resigned from his longtime role. Rosen interned with the Lakers while in college before working with the team as an executive in the 1980s, how he’s back back after Walter purchased the team for a $10-billion valuation.
Rosen was asked about Johnson’s role with the Lakers on Tuesday during a 20-minute interview with the media, and how Rosen would be involved with Rob Pelinka, the team’s president of basketball operations and general manager.
Johnson was president of basketball operations from 2017 until April 2019, when he abruptly resigned.
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“Earvin’s involved with all types of things. He owns football teams, baseball teams, soccer teams, insurance companies, a lot of things. He’s always gonna have some type of involvement with all the teams, but he is not gonna have a day-to-day involvement” with the Lakers, Rosen said. “It’s gonna be no different since he left the Lakers. Obviously he’s a huge fan of the Lakers, but he’s not gonna be, ‘Hey Rob. go sign this player. Do that.’
“He’ll always be involved with all the teams that he’s involved in, but no, he’s not gonna have day-to-day involvement at all. He is a super Laker fan and he’ll continue to be a super Laker fan. It’s not bad to have that. You see the involvement he had the other day when Pat [Riley] was here [to have his statue unveiled] and he’ll always be involved that way.”
Rosen was asked about ticket prices increasing for the 2026-27 season. The team recently sent out renewal notices and there have been reports of displeasure from Lakers fans — in one example, the price of tickets in the 300 level was increasing more than 45%, from $6,192 to $9,035.
One fan said his increase was about 15% and included another 3% fee if the tickets were not paid for up front.
“We hope they renew. And obviously it reflects on what the market is now and the demand for tickets,” Rosen said. “You can look at how tickets sell and what the prices are. You look at primary and secondary market and you can see where their demand is.”
Pelinka told the media after the trade deadline that he’ll work with Walter and Jeanie Buss, who is still on the board of governors for the Lakers, when it comes time to make basketball decisions this summer.
Both Andrew Friedman, the president of baseball operations for the Dodgers, and Farhan Zaidi, a special advisor with the Dodgers, will be advisors for Pelinka and the Lakers. Zaidi was seen at the practice facility Monday.
“Rob’s empowered to do what he does,” Rosen said. “And he’s talked about it and I can talk about it. Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi, they have involvement helping Rob a bit. It gives you a deeper bench, and I think Rob appreciates that. And it is unique. But they have a skill set that they can transfer some of it here. And that’s really how we look at it.
“Look, I have a really good relationship with Rob. I’ve known Rob Pelinka from when he was representing Kobe.”
