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May 21, 2010
NBA's Nets Sold to Russian Billionaire
The Nation
by Dave Zirin
We've been saying this for some time: pro sports is the next economic "bubble."
With a bank account estimated at in excess of $13 billion, there is little Mikhail Prokhorov wants that he cannot have. But the ease with which Russia’s richest man bought the NBA’s New Jersey Nets speaks volumes about the ailing financial state of the league.
By striking a deal for $200 million (as well as assuming $180 million in team debt) in exchange for an 80 percent stake in the team and 45 percent of a new the Brooklyn arena at Atlantic Yards, Prokhorov and the NBA have taught us something.
First, we now know that the NBA’s financial problems are not collective bargaining posturing by management but in fact very real. In years past, it’s been hard to imagine the strait-laced NBA commissioner David Stern rolling out the cashmere carpet for someone with the Russian plutocrat’s checkered past. Like many of the new billionaires in Russia’s “great frontier” capitalism of the last decade, the precious metals magnate is nobody’s saint.
...As Candace Carponter, the legal director of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn said, “The NBA is so desperate to bail out Bruce Ratner and to get a wealthy international owner that, despite their claims, they failed to do a proper investigation of Mikhail Prokhorov."
Mikhail Prokhorov’s reputation as a win-at-all costs “gangster capitalist” may be well earned. But he might actually have to sharpen his chops to keep up with how they have taken care of business in Brooklyn. As Mankoff said, “Given the antics of some former and current professional sports owners in the US, I don’t think he’ll be any better or worse than some of them."
Posted by eric at May 21, 2010 12:16 PM