Tag: nba

An end to the epic Spirits of St. Louis/NBA deal.

And I mean epic.

The NBA has reached a conditional agreement with the former owners of the defunct Spirits of St. Louis, buying out their share of the league’s television revenue, according to a published report Tuesday in the New York Times.

The agreement ends a lucrative deal that gave Ozzie and Daniel Silna, owners of the American Basketball Association franchise in St. Louis, “visual media” rights to NBA games “in perpetuity.”

The article reports that the Silna brothers made about $300 million off of those rights (the Spirits dissolved with the end of the ABA), and that the payout for them will be $500 million.  And at that the NBA is lucky.  This is why you think twice before you sign the contract, ladies and gentlemen: the NBA’s failure to think things true will end up costing them almost a billion dollars…

Mitch McConnell & John Cornyn warn Big Sports about supporting Obamacare.

If you were wondering whether the Senate GOP caucus wants to, plans to, and is in a good position to, be in the majority again after next year’s elections… stop wondering. This was unsubtle:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned six professional sports leagues on Friday not to promote ObamaCare or partner with the Obama administration on efforts concerning the law.

In letters to the leagues released Friday, McConnell and Cornyn cited an announcement by federal Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that she is in talks with the NFL, the NBA and others about campaigns to educate the public about healthcare reform.

McConnell and Cornyn warned NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his peers that launching such campaigns would damage their leagues’ reputations.

It would also have been unthinkable for the Senate GOP to be this blunt in, say, 2009 or 2010. Or even 2011.  Amazing what happens when a god turns out to be a man, after all? – Oh, yes, it’s all Barack Obama’s fault.  He could have prevented this… if only Obama was good enough at being President, of course. Continue reading Mitch McConnell & John Cornyn warn Big Sports about supporting Obamacare.