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The unraveling of Mark Walter’s sports empire may just be beginning. The sports world was stunned when the Guggenheim Partners CEO and TWG Global founder sold his majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at a valuation of $12.5 billion just a year after purchasing the team. The news of Walter selling to a partnership led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger came out of nowhere and has led to serious questions about what’s really happening with the billionaire businessman. However, it has become apparent that the sale could have a very clear motive, as Walter is under investigation by both the Southern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Of course, the Lakers aren’t the only major sports team that Walter owns or is invested in. His TWG Motorsports outlet owns the new Cadillac F1 team, Andretti Global in IndyCar, and Spire Motorsports in NASCAR. He is also part of the ownership group of Chelsea FC. And in Los Angeles, his ownership extends to the Los Angeles Sparks and Los Angeles Dodgers. With Mark Walter under investigation for fraud and improper loan payments, he is clearly looking to free up billions of dollars worth of capital. On Tuesday, it was revealed that one of his companies cut $6.5 billion in investments in his other businesses. And in addition to selling the Lakers, there are already reports that he is looking to hit the eject button on his Chelsea ownership stake. But the extent of Walter’s desperation may run even deeper thanks to a stunning report from sports media insider John Ourand. In his Puck newsletter, Ourand reports that Walter sought lump-sum payments from Charter Communications to let them out of their local television deals for both the Lakers and Dodgers. However, nothing came of the offer, and Charter is looking to sell SportsNet LA. In fact, it was reported that Walter himself may have been an interested potential buyer, but it’s obvious now that is not going to happen. The Dodgers and Lakers television deals with Charter are both massive compared to their competition. The Dodgers signed an incredible 25-year deal with what was then Time Warner Cable in 2013 worth $8.35 billion. That contract, and a bankruptcy provision that has allowed the Dodgers to keep tens of millions of dollars in extra revenue every year, is a major reason why they have such an enormous spending advantage over the rest of Major League Baseball. For the Lakers, their deal that began in the 2012-2013 season is worth $3 billion over 20 years. Charter purchased Time Warner Cable in 2016, inheriting both billion-dollar contracts. The news that Walter sought to cash out is astonishing for several reasons. First, it shows just how dire his personal financial situation may be, given how the Lakers and Dodgers have the biggest local television deals in basketball and baseball, respectively. Furthermore, those deals were cut when cable sports was at its absolute peak. Years of cord-cutting have made those contracts even worse for Charter and even better for the franchises as they continue to reap the reward of maximizing their value at the best possible moments. As the RSN industrial complex has imploded across sports, other teams who weren’t so lucky are losing millions of dollars on their former cable deals by shifting to a streaming and/or over-the-air approach. For Charter, getting out of those deals would certainly be a blessing given how much money the company is likely losing on SportsNet in Los Angeles. But given the billions still owed, it may be impossible for them to raise the necessary cash to make it happen now. For Walter, and more importantly for the Lakers and Dodgers, it would also see both franchises give up their lucrative cash cows to bail their owner out of financial and legal peril. That would see the Lakers and Dodgers thrown into enormous upheaval as they would need to find new television partners that would likely be able to offer a fraction of what they currently receive in local revenue. Even though that proposal did not go through, the report is an indication that Walter’s troubles may run deeper than most sports fans realize. And whether he eventually goes to jail or not, his ownership of the Dodgers could be the next domino to fall.