Quote Originally Posted by jimmymax View Post
To top if off, one must live with the fact that many pro sports teams have obscenely rich, often unethical owners that make slimy demands of their cities -- unsustainable I hope.
The NBA is obscenely rich at all levels, including the players...they have 82 products a year to sell, and much smaller rosters than any other of the 4 major sports. This translates into MO MONEY for all involved.

As for owners being obscenely rich, they are to own an NBA franchise, but when they pay 100 million on "luxury tax" in a season, they may not do all that well on the bottom line.

As for pro sports franchises making demands - (the NFL is the worst for this due to the cost of an NFL stadium) - they only get those tax breaks when the voters of that city want them. You may or may not like it (and I"m not saying it's either good or bad) - but you shouldn't fret over it - because it's simply a deal between the voters of a city and the team, based on the idea that the team can do for that city what no other business can. It's not at all like being taxed by the IRS with no say in the matter.

This of it like this: LeBron can do for an NBA team what no one else can...so he gets very special treatment. A pro sports franchise can do for a city, an area, maybe even a state, what no other business can...so yes, they get special treatment. (As can major companies like Amazon, etc). Some of these deals work out great for cities, and some don't...just like some deals with super star salaries work out, and some don't.