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As war prompts focus on Russia's "sportswashing," a reminder of how ownership of the Nets helped Prokhorov--and now helps Tsai, too

With Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, there's been a new focus on the notion of "sportswashing"--of nations and individuals using sports success, and team ownership, to burnish their questionable reputations.

I haven't used the phrase previously, but in 2010 coverage of the unwisely generous coverage of (then) new Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, I noted that "money cleanses." 

In retrospect, that New York Times Magazine cover line, An Oligarch of Our Own, and that 60 Minutes profile, The Russian Is Coming, look even more questionable.

A contrasting view from journalist Matt Taibbi at the time: "They privatized the jewels of Soviet industry into the hands of a few gangsters, basically... And then, ten, 15 years later, I come back to America and find out that one of them has become owner of the New Jersey Nets."

And while Prokhorov has been mentioned up in recent coverage, there are several other examples, notably soccer team ownership in the U.K.

Russia "frozen out"

In Russia Was the Hottest Place in Sports. Now It’s Frozen Out., the Wall Street Journal 3/1/22 explained:
Decades of lavish spending allowed Russia to gain influence at the highest levels of global sports, where it found willing partners. It was a campaign that brought the Olympics and the World Cup to Russia in the last decade, installed Putin associates in powerful governance roles and cleared the way for Russian athletes to compete on the world’s stage—despite the revelation of an elaborate, state-sponsored doping scheme. 
But when the invasion of Ukraine began, the era of Russian “sportswashing” abruptly ended, at least for the foreseeable future.
In Europe, the big money is not in basketball but in soccer, of course. But basketball gets a mention. From the article:
In the U.S., Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov spent more than $200 million for a controlling stake in the Nets and a piece of the arena they were hoping to build in Brooklyn. But while many NBA owners sit courtside, he rarely bothered going to games. Prokhorov seemed more interested in a sport that merged two of his favorite things: skis and guns. As the president of the Russian biathlon federation, he oversaw a squad that won three medals in Sochi—and then was ensnared in doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov’s allegations.

Prokhorov isn’t the NBA’s problem today: He flipped the team less than a decade after his purchase in a deal that valued the Nets at $2.35 billion.
More "sportswashing"

Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, reported 3/2/22 Roman Abramovich puts Chelsea up for sale as Russian money trail in sport draws attention. From the article:
There are strict rules in some countries such as Germany preventing majority ownership of football clubs, but Russians have splashed their money in other sports - in essence sportswashing their own backgrounds as much as Russia as a nation, while also anchoring Russian money at the heart of Western cultural assets.

Mikhail Prokhorov formerly owned the Brooklyn Nets NBA team, while ice hockey's NHL in North America sealed deals with Russian betting firm Liga Stavok and search engine Yandex weeks before the Ukraine crisis.
The only domestic coverage I've noticed was the 3/7/22 True Hoop podcast, BRING IT IN: Sportswashing and the NBA, which describes a very tangled trail:
Today, TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott and David Thorpe discuss:

Don’t you wish it was just about sports? One NBA powerbroker (Ari Emanuel of Endeavor) cut a deal face to face with Vladimir Putin, another (Joe Ravitch of the Raine Group) is helping Kremlin-connected oligarch Roman Abramovich sell Chelsea F.C. right now.

Endeavor and the Raine Group both reportedly raised a ton of money from the Emirates-based Mubadala Investment Company. Mubadala is also the biggest outside investor in Apollo Global. Apollo Global’s founder, Leon Black, funded Jeffrey Epstein.
It should be noted that Ravitch worked on the Nets sale to Prokhorov.

Also, True Hoop's Russia's money: a timeline, includes:
On Twitter

Has the term ever been used regarding Prokhorov on Twitter? Only from Mig Greengard, an American chess author and journalist who, according to Wikipedia, maintains the official English website of the Russian pro-democracy coalition, The Other Russia.

He not only called Prokhorov a "Putin douchepoodle" but called his successor "CCP apologist Joseph Tsai." 

Indeed, the urbane, American-educated Taiwanese-Canadian Tsai has a notable record of American philanthropy and social justice activism, but his fortune rests on Alibaba and he backs the Chinese regime to the hilt.

Which means he, too, is sportswashing. He's just better at it, and starts with advantages Prokhorov never had.
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