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November 8, 2010
NBA's Financial Situation: David Stern's Conflicting Message About the Thunder
Bleacher Report
by Phil Caldwell
After hearing David Stern’s rhetoric this past summer, perhaps Seattle’s barren professional basketball scene might soon be shared by another 32 cities? This past July, the hated commissioner claimed the NBA was losing “huge amounts of money” and put the number in the $350 to $400 million range for the 2009-10 season alone.
If that is anywhere close to truth, perhaps Seattle ought to be celebrating escaping this mess, rather than mourning their lost franchise?
Stern has an impossible, conflicting task this year. While trying to convince skeptical city council members across the nation to pony up hundreds of millions to replace arenas barely two decades-old, he’s also pleading poverty in an effort to lower the NBA players' salary structure.
Sources confirm the poverty argument, listing that the teams losing money include Atlanta, Memphis, Detroit, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Indiana, New Jersey, Minnesota, Charlotte, Milwaukee and Philadelphia—news that makes Seattle and Vancouver fans a bit gleeful.
Build new billion-dollar arenas using public taxpayer money for a league that is losing hundreds of millions? How does this make sense?
NoLandGrab: Why, that's a good question. One way around having to answer is by circumventing the city council via a state override, since New York's state government — and its courts — seem to be plenty gullible.
Posted by eric at November 8, 2010 10:07 AM