If his private conversation had remained private, it wouldn't have hurt business at all. The MSM is "hurting" the business by turning it into something of Holocaust proportions.
But it didn't remain private.
The NBA Commissioner is going to hurt business a lot more by dragging this through the courts.
Exactly. It can't be Sterling's fault that his remarks garnered lots of attention. Silver had the universe of options available to him, and chose the most aggressive one. Rather than tone down the rhetoric and emotions, he ratcheted them up. He picked the stakes too, and set them at the house limit! Max fine and kick you out for life.
I don't think the incident has an effect on the NBA as a business, other than the cash diverted to legal offense and defense. The players play, the press makes it exciting, and the sports franchise goes on.
I haven't looked at reports of franchise income, ticket sales, etc. I highly doubt Silver can show a cause-effect linkage between Sterling's remarks and any loss to the NBA, because there hasn't been any financial loss!!
If his private conversation had remained private, it wouldn’t have hurt business at all.
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The NBA appears to be organized as a non-profit corp ... see Article 2 , PRINCIPALS OF ORGANIZATION ,, in part it reads “The Association shall not be operated for profit.” , I’d say the league is screwed on any argument involving league revenue ,, after all they play the game just for fun dontcha know....