From a 1/22/20 Bloomberg Quint article headlined Nets Owner Joe Tsai Is Caught Between Brooklyn and Beijing, more on the back story of the sale, and another quote (here's previous) about the league's "socialist" economics:
A real socialist setup? The teams would share profits with the public.
When representatives of the Nets’ previous owner, Russian mining magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, called in 2017 to say the team was for sale, Tsai investigated the NBA’s economic fundamentals. “We had several long conversations,” says NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “I came away incredibly impressed.” Tsai also liked what he saw. The league splits revenue roughly evenly between players and owners, as well as among teams, regardless of market size or wins and losses. “It’s kind of a socialist setup,” Tsai says. “Basically all 30 teams get to make money.” He ended up buying the Nets in two stages, acquiring the first 49% in 2017 and the remainder, along with the arena, last September. He paid about $3.5 billion, all told. “NBA teams are not going to lose asset value,” Tsai says. “It’s like owning a penthouse apartment on park Avenue."This is when "socialism" is very, very capitalistic. After all, the league's a cartel, and the absence of competition means teams can muscle home cities/states for arena assistance.
A real socialist setup? The teams would share profits with the public.
Comments
Post a Comment