Forbes: Nets Cut Losses, but Lead NBA in Debt

The Knicks are at -42 million but are also worth the most.

Sports team owners make their money (hopefully) in the team’s sale, not in profits. Most teams lose money, but with so many people wanting to own a professional sports team, few teams lose value. Problem with the Nets is that they have borrowed so much money that any new owner would have to assume that debt, effectively increasing the cost of purchase. That’s fine if Ratner wants to sell the team once it moves to Brooklyn. The team will be a LOT more valuable in that arena, that close to Manhattan.

But if Brooklyn falls through, it would be a fire sale and the most likely buyer might very well be someone like the Sonics’ new owners…willing to spend a lot of money to move the team out of civic pride. Those owners might want to move the team not across the river, but across the country. There is a great new arena in Kansas City for example.

The Sonics are going to Oklahoma City, it’s just a question of when. A far more likely scenario is the Nets, the Hornets(11,000fans/game & last in attendance despite exciting young team) or some other NBA franchise relocating to ‘The Rock’ in Newark, which has become a money making machine for the Devils.

There is NO chance ANY NBA team will move to “The Rock”. No matter how many times you post it, no matter on how many boards, it is simply NOT true. David Stern has said it…period.

David Stern has NOT said it, period.