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December 17, 2010
Roman Abramovich just a ‘poor’ relation to compatriot rolling into town
London Evening Standard
by Michael Weinstein
Forget William and Kate — Londoners can hardly contain themselves in anticipation of the big March showdown between the Nets and Toronto Raptors, two teams battling for last place in the NBA's Eastern Conference.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will briefly lose his status as the richest Russian in town when the New Jersey Nets' Moscow contingent roll into London next March.
Abramovich (£7.1billion) trails Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov (£8.5bn) in the Forbes rich list, although neither can hold a candle to Russia's mightiest oligarch, Vladimir Lisin, the 32nd richest man in the world with a £10bn fortune.
Chris Charlier, the Nets chairman who represents Prokhorov on the boards of six Russian companies, vowed: “Mikhail will be there in London.
“We'll come in force from Moscow and there will be a big Russian contingent. We're still in the process of getting Russia's people to think of the Nets as Russia's team and London is a big part of getting that done.”
...The former owner of CSKA Moscow's football and basketball set-up had to pass stringent NBA tests before he was voted in by his new peers in the summer.
NoLandGrab: If by "pass stringent NBA tests" they mean "prove that he wasn't Bruce Ratner, then by all means, yes he did.
Posted by eric at December 17, 2010 10:51 AM