New revenue sharing plan could mean $15 million for teams

Revenue sharing between the owners was one of the things at the core of the new labor deal — players wanted to see more of it from the owners so they were not carrying the burden of sacrifices for the smaller markets all by themselves. Smaller market owners demanded it, too.

Now a more robust (to use a David Stern term) revenue sharing program has been put in place by owners. One that could mean $150 million a year total. (That plan will need a final approval after a labor deal is in place — the owners want to see the numbers from that before finalizing the sharing levels.)

But what does that mean in terms of dollars to a small market team (such as the Kings or Grizzlies)? Maybe a lot reports Howard Beck at the New York Times.

Although the details remained confidential, the league’s poorest franchises could receive up to $15 million a year under the new revenue-sharing formula, according to a person who has seen the plan. The two biggest payers would be the Los Angeles Lakers, who are expected to contribute $50 million a year, and the Knicks, who are expected to contribute $30 million a year.

The larger market payers have wanted to make sure their share of revenue sharing came mostly from additional revenues from the new labor agreement — they didn’t want to tap into their profits.

But for NBA teams that lost upwards of $10 million a year (some teams more than $20 million, according to their reports), that much revenue sharing money could make a huge difference.

Although, you can bet some teams are going to squander that money on bad decisions. In the end, good management wins and is profitable in the NBA.