AFP:
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - The National Basketball Association will borrow 175 million dollars to serve as aid to teams that might struggle in the weak global economy, Sports Business Journal reported Thursday.
The report said the presumption is teams would use the funds to cover operating losses and that while the league was not looking to borrow, Bank of America and JPMorgan came to the NBA several weeks ago with the opportunity.
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What a deal professional sports have. They get free training in both high school and college with the public's money. Then they get free advertising at every newscast. What a deal.
How about cutting $175 million in useless salaries?
If these guys get a bailout it's time to lock and load.
When will the practice of coercing cities to put up the money for the facilities end? Be it Basketball, Baseball, or Football, cities are always putting up the money to build some new facility that should be funded by the "Private Enterprise" entities that own these franchises. One decent thing I can say about Tuscaloosa, Al. and the University of Alabama is that we citizens don't have to pay for the never ending expansions to the stadium here because the University makes such obscene profits from the exploitation of these "unpaid" players.
1) How about reducing the amount of salaries across the board with all players so they can have the profits they need.
2) How dare Bank of America and JPMorgan give the NBA a loan for money when the average person still isn't receiving their loans easily. And the credit cards that BofA and JP own - they have increased the interest rates. How exactly does these banks justify giving loans to the NBA again?
Unbelievable......just unbelievable.
I have said for years that the amount of money that players receive (in all sports) is just ridiculous -- no one deserves that much money to play a game. I wish firefighters, police and teachers could make that much money !!!!!!
Why don't people get a break with the outrageous credit card fees bank charge?
Most teams are owned by a select few who have voting priviledges and rights. Then there are some common stock owners who don't decide anything. Well, the players are paid out of a pool defined by the sport related income, which means the gate receipts, the television rights, and the local concession intake, for all intents and purposes. Now the primary owners have their own little nest egg, which is the marketing revenues. Now guess what brings in most of the profit for the team owners? Not the games themselves. No, the sale of overpriced, imported from the far east jerseys, caps, etc. to people who are willing to buy items at these inflated prices and then provide free promotional advertising to the team while wearing them.
Yes, I think in many of the professional sports a good portion of the players are overpaid. However they have professional risks most of us don't, especially medical issues caused by competition. Their careers may last twenty years or one game or a season.
Do you mean to tell us that professional sports is more dangerous than fishing and farming? If not then the fishing and farming people are getting ripped off. Now, me, I am in the most dangerous occupation in the world. My occupation has a death rate of 100%. I am retired at the poverty level.
How about paying reasonable salaries to bb players and charging reasonable ticket prices to families. Oh yeah, how about not selling 25 cents worth of pop for 5 dollars?
I never go to pro sports events unless i get to go for free.
I guess they need to cut those high union wages or we will have to move the teams to Mexico or China.
I always find it funny when people starting railing against athletes. There is not a single person on here that if they were athletically superior to most, and an organization wanted to pay them millions and an incredibly bloated amount of money, would not accept it.
I don't blame the players for accepting the $$$, i blame the fans for paying high ticket prices.
I'm easy, I would accept even a much lower salary.
Shouldn't be a problem. All they teams have to do is sell a tiny share of the teams to the players. At the very least these mega millionaire players could make a loan to the owners.
Why don't they just lay off LeBron? They wouldn't need to borrow anything then.
All do respect, you really don't know anything about the sport/business.
Players who currently earn more per year than Lebron James:
Allen Iverson Jason Kid, Stephon Marbury, Shaq, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Ben Wallace, Kobe Bryant, Tracey McGrady, Vince Carter, Jermaine O"Neal, Shawn Maron. Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming, Pau Gasol. http://www.insidehoops.com/nbasalaries.shtml
The summer of 2010 Lebron will be a free agent, that's when the bidding war will commence.
Whatever, dude, and no, I don't know much of anything about sports. I just happen to live in Cleveland & know of Lebron, mkay? Quit nit-picking & get a life.
You mean the exorbitant ticket prices won't keep them afloat? $600 for nosebleed seats at the All Star Game doesn't do it? The NBA has become such an elitist organization where the fans are totally alienated from the players. I went to the NBA All Star Game two weeks ago and I was surprised at how little interaction there was between fans and players. There were hardly any fan appreciation opportunities, especially where kids could take pictures and get autographs from their favorite players. Sadly enough, I think the players like it that way.
I don't agree that most of them are thugs, a convenient conclusion made just because many of them are Black. However, I do think they have become commodities of these corporations and sponsors to the point where they have become primadonnas who care nothing about the fans.
Here's an idea - quit paying these dirtbags so much money to play. Problem solved.
Just why are they dirtbags? Their pay is market driven just like any other.
Here's an idea - Shut up, and get educated on athletes.
I haven't heard any of the players complaining about the upcoming tax increase. Nothing but praise for the president.
Smart, profitable, and risk free move by the banks.
To many of you, read the entire article:
"Half of the league's 30 teams agreed there was a need to go through with the borrowing, according to the report, which said the money will supplement a 1.7 billion-dollar credit facility that uses the NBA's broadcast contracts as LOAN COLLATERIAL."
"The deal comes with interest rates up to 8.27 percent and each of the 15 teams that wanted to borrow could take a maximum of 11.66 million dollars from the debt proceeds, according to the Journal."
Rational comments do not belong in this discussion. What were you thinking?
who's next? Fashion, the art world, churches, wall mart, Hollywood, the restaurant industry,......who else need a bailout? unbelievable!
How about not paying ridiculous contracts for unproven talent? That would save a lot of money
Actually, the NBA is the best professional sports league when it comes to limiting salaries of Rookies and young players. There is a cap on the maximum compensation for rookies in the NBA, unlike the NFL or MLB. Also, there is a adjusted league minimum salary for veteran players who are actually proven to be productive on the court.
The NBA has the fairest, most reasonable compensation structure of any professional sports league. MLB is by far the worst.
Can I hire you as my agent?
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AFP | 02/26/09