The Clippers just sold for what most league observers consider twice their true market value. There's only 32 NBA teams and more billionaires than that waiting for a spot to open up in the club. Ballmer overpaying for the Clippers like he did is not a big deal to him personally; he can afford it and the team's value to him is intangible.
Teams like the Lakers and Celtics practically have a license to mint money, but some of the small or mid-market teams like Atlanta or Milwaukee probably operate at a loss year to year when it comes to net profit, especially if the team is not winning and thus not drawing. In Atlanta's case, the Hawks were really bad for a long time, and although they've been better the past few years they haven't been an elite team by any means. Add to that the fact that Atlanta is a transportation hub and a city with a large transplant population. Half the people that live there don't owe their allegiances to the local teams. It's SEC country and the Georgia Bulldogs are the only thing people there really care about. The Braves had problems selling out their playoff games.
However, every time any NBA team changes hands the outgoing owner ends up making a killing on his original investment, so it could be argued that this guy probably figures that it's time to get out before the bubble bursts. But if he just wants to cash in on a sure thing while he knows he can sell his original investment for a huge profit, he wouldn't need to manufacture a controversy. If he doesn't want to own a team, there's plenty of rich VCs out there to take it off his hands.
I don't think that V Stiviano woman got the idea on her own to blackmail Donald Sterling and in this case not for one second do I believe he "self-reported" this email out of the goodness of his heart to the commish. I think it's very plausible he was coerced into doing it, perhaps by somebody who wants really badly to own an NBA team but there wasn't one up for sale before this morning. The email comes across to me as exhibiting no malice or spite at all towards black people. If anything, he seems to lament that he has to market the Hawks towards white middle class guys that he considers casually racist in order to be more profitable, that he can't maximize his profits with the status quo. So perhaps there is more that hasn't come out that is compelling him to sell now.
Teams like the Lakers and Celtics practically have a license to mint money, but some of the small or mid-market teams like Atlanta or Milwaukee probably operate at a loss year to year when it comes to net profit, especially if the team is not winning and thus not drawing. In Atlanta's case, the Hawks were really bad for a long time, and although they've been better the past few years they haven't been an elite team by any means. Add to that the fact that Atlanta is a transportation hub and a city with a large transplant population. Half the people that live there don't owe their allegiances to the local teams. It's SEC country and the Georgia Bulldogs are the only thing people there really care about. The Braves had problems selling out their playoff games.
However, every time any NBA team changes hands the outgoing owner ends up making a killing on his original investment, so it could be argued that this guy probably figures that it's time to get out before the bubble bursts. But if he just wants to cash in on a sure thing while he knows he can sell his original investment for a huge profit, he wouldn't need to manufacture a controversy. If he doesn't want to own a team, there's plenty of rich VCs out there to take it off his hands.
I don't think that V Stiviano woman got the idea on her own to blackmail Donald Sterling and in this case not for one second do I believe he "self-reported" this email out of the goodness of his heart to the commish. I think it's very plausible he was coerced into doing it, perhaps by somebody who wants really badly to own an NBA team but there wasn't one up for sale before this morning. The email comes across to me as exhibiting no malice or spite at all towards black people. If anything, he seems to lament that he has to market the Hawks towards white middle class guys that he considers casually racist in order to be more profitable, that he can't maximize his profits with the status quo. So perhaps there is more that hasn't come out that is compelling him to sell now.