“BABY You’re a Rich Man” was one of a hundred and one popular songs by the iconic Fabulous Four from Liverpool, England collectively known as the Beatles.
“Money” was another Beatles hit. “That’s all I want,” John (Lennon), Paul (McCartney), George (Harrison) and Ringo (Starr)
chorused. And yeah, yeah, yeah. Baby, you’ll be a rich man if you have lots of money.
Some say “Money is the root of evil.” Perhaps they were referring to some of our honorable legislators and government officials and know-it-all sports officials. Realistically, money talks in most aspects of life. The sporting world is no different.
Athletes often look to secure the best possible contract available while teams seek to assemble a star-studded roster built to contend for a title without regard to financial costs at times.
It could well be the best team that money can buy, but more often than not, it does not lead to a championship. Consider the New York Yankees of owner George Steinbrenner from the 1970s and 1980s.
The controversial and outspoken Steinbrenner was instrumental in driving up player salaries as the Yankees owned the highest player payroll in major league baseball for a number of years. “The Boss” signed the best talents available in the belief that money can buy championships.
The late Steinbrenner was probably right as he was gifted with seven World Series titles during his 37-year ownership (1973-2010) of the Yankees. But there’s also the flip side of the matter.
The current Brooklyn Nets come to mind. Russian Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets owner, has put together a star-studded team in the ongoing 2013-14 NBA wars with a payroll of nearly $190 million in player salaries and luxury taxes, the largest in the league.
Yet the Nets are mired in the middle of the pack of the Eastern Conference with a below .500 record. Losing streaks were aplenty during the season’s 2013 segment but a string of victories at the start of the new year (2014) have wheeled the Nets (a seventh-place 16-22 record) back to playoff contention (the top eight from the conference will qualify for the postseason) only because the East is horribly weak overall.
Expectedly, all the 30 team owners in the NBA have money to burn. Some have acted judiciously in their spending ways but there are those that wantonly shell out humongous contracts to second-tier players notwithstanding the league’s stringent salary cap rules and harsh luxury-tax penalties (wherein a club pays a certain amount of tax for not only going over the cap but also the cap threshold).
For the record, the wealthiest NBA club owner is the Portland Trail Blazers’ Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (along with Bill Gates) who is worth $15.8 billion. Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League.
Prokhorov ranks second with an estimated wealth of $13.5 billion. A far third is the Orlando Magic’s Richard DeVos ($6.3 billion), followed by the two-time reigning NBA titlist Miami Heat’s Micky Arison ($5.9 billion), and the Denver Nuggets’ Stan Kroenke ($5.3 billion).
Rounding out the top 15 are Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers ($3.9 billion), Charles Dolan of the New York Knicks ($3.3 billion), Tom Gores of the Detroit Pistons ($2.7 billion), Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks ($2.5 billion), Josh Harris of the Philadelphia 76ers ($2.5 billion), Robert Pera of the Memphis Grizzlies ($1.95 billion), Herb Simon of the Indiana Pacers ($1.95 billion), Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers (($1.9 billion), Glen Taylor of the Minnesota Timberwolves ($1.7 billion), and Tom Benson of the New Orleans Pelicans ($1.3 billion).
Billionaires they all are, and not just millionaires. Money runs deep, very deep in the NBA.
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