Bobcats and Other Small Market Teams to Benefit from New Revenue Sharing

OK, so we may not see NBA basketball for a while, but when it returns, owners of small-market teams will have reason to smile. From the Charlotte Observer: “Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan has to be thrilled that his fellow NBA owners approved a new revenue-sharing plan that will nearly triple the redistribution of funds between small- and big-market teams. NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said at a Thursday news conference that revenue sharing going forward will be roughly $150 million annually, compared with about $60 million last season. It wasn’t announced precisely what formula the league would use to redistribute those funds. Jordan and Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl lobbied hard for the idea that more generous revenue sharing was crucial to keeping all 30 NBA franchises competitive. The local television and radio revenue generated by some big-market teams, like the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, dwarfs what a franchise like the Bobcats, Bucks or Sacramento Kings can generate.”