A tax write off is still a loss. It is only a smaller loss by offsetting income that is taxed. Businesses do not intentionally seek tax write offs since it is better to have profits than losses. If Silver’sbusiness’s tax rate is 30% then his write-off saves 30% on income taxes. The other 70% is a pure loss.
I doubt he owns this league for the write off.
As the basketball league expands its number of broadcast partners from two to three, the deal is rumored to pay out $76 billion over 11 years — a package that would be worth more than 2.5 times the league's current deal. Disney, Amazon, Warner Bros.
The NBA can afford to lose $10 million a year (less than that due to tax write off).
But now that it's $50 million a year, it'll be interesting to see what the NBA will do.