New Guard of Owners Could Be Key in Sterling’s Fate By SCOTT CACCIOLA and BILLY WITZAPRIL 28, 2014
When the N.B.A.’s Philadelphia 76ers were sold in 2011, a group of private equity investors bought the team for $280 million. When the Memphis Grizzlies were sold in 2012, a 34-year-old wireless technology entrepreneur paid $377 million. This month, two hedge fund billionaires shelled out $550 million for the lowly Milwaukee Bucks.
And then there is Donald Sterling, the former divorce lawyer who bought the Clippers for $12.7 million some 33 years ago and now finds himself at the center of swirling debate over racist remarks.
Mr. Sterling is part of the old guard of N.B.A. owners, a group of men who bought teams before the league became a global phenomenon worth billions of dollars.
Now, the new guard of owners could help determine Mr. Sterling’s fate as they await findings from the investigation led by Adam Silver, the N.BA. commissioner, into the racist statements. Mr. Silver, who has been commissioner only since February, scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon.
Pressure on the Clippers mounted by the hour. On Monday, a flurry of advertisers including CarMax, Virgin Airlines, Red Bull, Kia and State Farm raced to suspend or cut ties with the team. State Farm called the remarks offensive and said the insurance company would be “taking a pause in our relationship with the organization.”
As the Clippers prepared to play a pivotal Game 5 of their first-round playoff series at home against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night — the first home game since the recordings were released Friday — Mr. Sterling found himself increasingly isolated, drawing universal condemnation from President Obama, Michael Jordan and even Sterling’s own wife, Rochelle, who told ESPN that she does not “condone what I heard on that tape.”
Sterling has reached out to Doc Rivers, the Clippers’ coach, but Mr. Rivers said he rebuffed him, and he felt certain that it was Mr. Sterling’s voice on the tape, which was allegedly recorded by a woman identified as V. Stiviano, who has regularly been seen with Mr. Sterling.
“I haven’t given him his due process,” Mr. Rivers said in a phone call with reporters Monday. “I haven’t given him an opportunity to explain himself and, quite honestly, right now I don’t want him to, to me. I’ll wait for that further judgment.”
Several team owners released statements condemning the remarks attributed to Mr. Sterling while pledging their support for Mr. Silver. Fifteen owners declined interview requests through team spokesmen; another five did not respond.
Leslie Alexander, the longtime owner of the Rockets, told The Houston Chronicle on Monday that Mr. Silver should back Mr. Sterling into a corner by making all of his players free agents. Mr. Alexander also sought to distance himself from Mr. Sterling, telling The Chronicle: “We are 30 different individuals and most of us are not even friends. We are business associates. To lump us together is beyond the pale.”
The N.B.A. has been one of the more progressive sports leagues in regards to race. It has long been the league with the most black players (76 percent as of 2013), and was the first with more than a handful of black head coaches.
Andy Dolich, a former front-office executive with the Grizzlies, said that while many of the owners might have been horrified by the statements attributed to Mr. Sterling, who has a long history of troubling behavior, some may be reluctant to support a measure that would strip Mr. Sterling of his ownership for fear of setting a precedent.
“It’s ironic that this is a circumstance focused on race, focused on black and white, but the overriding color in this is green,” Mr. Dolich said. “I would say that this is repugnant and has created such a firestorm that the league, as a community, has to do what is logical and right.”
Three decades ago, a successful local businessman interested in a team as an extravagant plaything could join the elite club of N.B.A. owners; today, the teams are within reach of few outside billionaire hedge fund managers, tech moguls and Russian oligarchs.
In one sense, members of this group compete against one another every night; but they also share clear mutual interests — namely, the financial health of the league — and they regularly communicate on a wide range of issues, from league rules to player discipline. While management committees handle much of the day-to-day matters, all of the owners are involved in the league’s wider business.
Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports consultant, said the newer owners were more likely to press Mr. Silver to do whatever he could to make this situation — and Mr. Sterling — go away, in part because of their outsize investments in their teams. Older, more-tenured owners like the Buss family, which owns the Los Angeles Lakers, and Jerry Reinsdorf, who owns the Chicago Bulls, tend to have less debt while sitting on huge profits. But it remained unclear what levers the owners could pull.
“It is not easy to force an owner to sell a team,” said Mark Conrad, the director of the sports business program at Fordham University.
In 1981, when Mr. Sterling purchased the San Diego Clippers, the league was on tenuous footing. Revenue was marginal at best, television ratings were relatively nonexistent and the league was in desperate need of stars.
Mr. Sterling’s purchase price of $12.7 million would be roughly $33 million today. This year, Forbes valued the Clippers at roughly $575 million.
Another change has been the players’ ability to influence matters off the court. Star players have been known to push out coaches, demand trades and recruit free agents. The players’ voices also carry more weight thanks to social media.
The Sterling crisis could be the biggest test for the players, who have formed a chorus denouncing Mr. Sterling. As a sign of solidarity, the Miami Heat warmed up for their game Monday night with their jerseys inside out, echoing a protest made by the Clippers on Sunday.
Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento and a former N.B.A. star, has become a strong advocate in his role as an adviser for the players union. On Monday, he sent an email to players and their agents outlining the measures he wants the league to take.
In the email, Mr. Johnson cites the need for the league to provide a “full accounting” of prior accusations of racism against Mr. Sterling and an explanation for why the league failed to take action. He also called on Mr. Silver to clarify the range of disciplinary measures he can take against Mr. Sterling. Above all, Mr. Johnson said, the players deserve to be a key part of the process.
“The collective voice of the players must be heard,” Mr. Johnson wrote.
Meanwhile, the Clippers have basketball to play. The team was thrashed by the Warriors on Sunday, a loss Mr. Rivers attributed in part to a lack of focus. He canceled practice Monday, saying his players “needed to breathe.”
“This was a nonbasketball decision that I thought I had to make,” Mr. Rivers said. “I thought it was the right decision because if you get your life better, you can probably do your job better.”
Mr. Rivers said he did not know what to expect at Staples Center on Tuesday. Coaches and players have discussed having a player or Mr. Rivers address the crowd, but no decision has been made. Some groups have applied for permits to stage protests outside the arena. And Golden State Coach Mark Jackson suggested earlier in the day that the game be played in an empty arena, though that appears unlikely.
“I don’t know what’s right or wrong,” Mr. Rivers said. “I swear I wish I knew the answer.”
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