LOS ANGELES — Season-ticket prices are rising at Crypto.com Arena ahead of the 2026-2027. And Lon Rosen, the Lakers’ new president of business operations as of last week, is hopeful that fans will still turn up.
“We hope they renew,” Rosen said, despite a report from ESPN last week that showed a season-ticket-price increase as high as 45.9%. “And obviously it reflects on what the market is now and the demand for tickets. 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.”
The season-ticket increase was among a number of topics Rosen touched on during a 20-minute interview with local media, his first since the Lakers hired him last week.
“If you’re sitting in section 118, you’re gonna still sit in 118,” said 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. “I’ve been on this thing for two days. … We’re gonna look at everything that’s there.
“I think the Lakers are a really successful group. Let’s face it, there was a transaction made a couple months ago for the most money you’ve ever seen for a transaction. So things have to be going well. So sitting here today, obviously things will evolve. Are they gonna change? I don’t know what change means now ’cause that’s a pretty good franchise.”
Rosen also addressed the Lakers’ relationship with Spectrum as their regional sports network partner, his status within the Dodgers’ organization and if Magic Johnson will have a role in the Lakers’ organization going forward. When Lakers controlling owner Walter and Dodgers president Stan Kasten – both of whom work alongside Rosen with the Dodgers – approached him with an the opportunity to replace Tim Harris, who announced his resignation last week, Rosen said he couldn’t pass it up.
Rosen began his career interning at The Forum as a college student, later becoming the director of promotions at the venue from 1980-1987 during the excitement of the “Showtime” Era with the Lakers.
“It’s a good thing for me, it’s a good thing – I’m excited about it,” Rosen said, adding that he was involved with the ownership transition. “It’s a challenge. There was some hesitation, because I love the people I work with. … I’ve always stayed very close to Pat (Riley) and that group of players, the ‘Showtime’ players, very close. We’re – it really is a family. And, you know, being able to sort of return to really where I started – because my first job out of college was with the Lakers – so it’s a really exciting thing for me.”
Rosen said that “the majority of his time his going to be focused on the Lakers,” since he’ll be serving as president of business operations, but he added that he still plans on delivering “some services” for the Dodgers.
Since Walter purchased the Lakers for approximately $10 billion, the Dodgers and Lakers have been sharing ideas. Rosen mentioned that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi, a special advisor to the Dodgers, have already been in contact with Lakers general manager/president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka.
Zaidi, who previously served as the Dodgers’ GM and the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations from 2019-2024, was at the Lakers’ El Segundo training facility on Monday afternoon.
“Rob’s empowered to do what he does,” Rosen said when asked about Pelinka, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss and the decision-making process, emphasizing that his pulse is on the business side and that Pelinka’s remains on the basketball side of the equation.
“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.”
When asked about Magic Johnson, who served as the Lakers’ president of basketball operations alongside Pelinka from February 2017-April 2019 before resigning abruptly, Rosen said the franchise icon would not be involved in day-to-day operations, but he would be in and around the organization similarly to how he is with the Dodgers, where he’s a minority owner through Guggenheim Baseball Management, the investment firm that owns the franchise.
“He is a super Laker fan, and he’ll continue to be a super Laker fan,” Rosen said.
When it comes to Spectrum SportsNet, the Lakers’ regional TV partner since 2011, Rosen said he views the network as a “great partner” for the team. Spectrum has also been the regional provider for the Dodgers since 2014, televising their games on SportsNet LA.
On the stadium front, when asked if Crypto.com Arena is the team’s home for the foreseeable future, Rosen compared the venue to Dodger Stadium. He called the Lakers’ current home, which opened in October 1999 as “very functional” and a “great building.”
Just a few days into his new role with the Lakers, Rosen acknowledged that he still needs to meet additional team employees and faces who are part of the day-to-day running of the organization.
There’s room to dream, he said. Rosen helped make the Dodgers a global juggernaut through their signing of Japanese two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. The Lakers have an international star of their own in Slovenia’s Luka Doncic, set to be a Laker through potentially 2029.
“Sitting in my Dodger seat?” Rosen said. “I only dream that we would have the reach that the Lakers have. Let’s face it, having Luka Doncic doesn’t hurt at all. I mean, he’s one of the most popular players in the world, and we want to, obviously, you know, jump on his shoulders and see what we can reach out there. I mean, that’s a really unique player. His global reach is everywhere.”