Russian Billionaire Buys Nets

[Indazone]

Russian Billionaire Signs Deal to Become Nets Owner
By CHARLES V. BAGLI (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/charles_v_bagli/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: September 23, 2009
A Russian billionaire, an amateur basketball player the size of an N.B.A. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_basketball_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org) power forward, signed a tentative $200 million deal Wednesday that would make him the principal owner of the New Jersey Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and an investor in the team’s new home, an arena planned for Brooklyn.
Skip to next paragraph (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/#secondParagraph) Enlarge This Image (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/09/23/sports/basketball/24nets.ready.html', '24nets_ready', 'width=405,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/09/23/sports/basketball/russia.190.jpg (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/09/23/sports/basketball/24nets.ready.html', '24nets_ready', 'width=405,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./Bloomberg News
Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the richest man in Russia and president of Onexim Group, would become the first foreign owner of an N.B.A. team who is not Canadian.





Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the richest man in Russia and president of Onexim Group, would become the first foreign owner of an N.B.A. team who is not Canadian. Prokhorov, who once owned a stake in the CSKA Moscow basketball team, wrote on his blog (http://md-prokhorov.livejournal.com/) Tuesday that he intended to improve Russian basketball by using N.B.A. training methods and sending Russian coaches to the United States for internships.

“We are delighted to join in this exciting project and to participate in the landmark development of global sports in this entertainment arena in the heart of New York City,” Prokhorov said in a statement. “I have a long-standing passion for basketball and pursuing interests that forward the development of the sport in Russia.”

Prokohorov, 44, has bragged that he will be “the only N.B.A. owner who can dunk,” according to one executive who has spoken with him.
The deal comes as the developer Bruce C. Ratner, who owns the Nets, is rushing to complete the financing for an $800 million arena at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn and start construction by the end of the year. Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, has been eager to bring in a major new investor because the team loses tens of millions of dollars a year and the arena project has been hobbled by costly legal challenges and three years of delays.
Prokhorov’s lawyers signed a term sheet covering the deal Wednesday morning in New York.

“Mikhail and Onexim will be great partners for this project,” Ratner said in a statement. “I am thrilled that smart global investors appreciate the exciting economic potential of Brooklyn.”

Under the terms of the deal, Prokhorov would invest $200 million in the Nets in exchange for an 80 percent stake in the team and 45 percent of the arena, according to a statement released by Forest City Ratner. He would also take on some of the team’s debts, executives said, reducing Ratner’s 23 percent stake as well as that of other investors.
Prokhorov also has the right to purchase up to 20 percent of the surrounding 22-acre residential and commercial development.
The Russian edition of Forbes magazine has listed Prokhorov as Russia’s richest man, worth $9.5 billion. That is after losing about $7 billion in the global economic crisis in the past year.

Prokhorov’s fortune stems from lucrative privatization deals that sprung from the fall of communism. He headed Onexim Bank when it acquired the industrial conglomerate Norilsk Nickel in 1993, turning the inefficient giant into a profitable business. Prokhorov sold off his shares of Norilsk in 2007 for $7.5 billion.

The new tycoons who have emerged in Russia and Eastern Europe have been more widely known for their keen interest in English soccer teams. Roman Abramovich bought the London soccer club Chelsea (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/soccer/premier-league/chelsea_football_club/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in 2003. And the Uzbek-Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who made his fortune in metals and mining, owns a significant stake (a little less than 25 percent) in another London soccer club, Arsenal (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/soccer/premier-league/arsenal-football-club/index.html?inline=nyt-org).

For the N.B.A., it is another step in the globalization of the game, long championed by Commissioner David Stern (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_stern/index.html?inline=nyt-per).

“Interest in basketball and the N.B.A. is growing rapidly on a global basis and we are especially encouraged by Mr. Prokhorov’s commitment to the Nets and the opportunity it presents to continue the growth of basketball in Russia,” Stern said in a statement.

The deal must be approved by the N.B.A.’s board of governors.


Now Nets Players will never get paid!! LOL

[jack sommerset]

Why can't they just say 2nd foreign owner instead of "would become the first foreign owner of an N.B.A. team who is not Canadian"

[Morg1411]

Why can't they just say 2nd foreign owner instead of "would become the first foreign owner of an N.B.A. team who is not Canadian"

It's more impressive to be the first of something. (Even if you really aren't.)

[manufan10]

Now Nets Players will never get paid!! LOL

LIES! I tell you alway that Euro's have richest man in the world. You not believe me, but players are more better in Europe, but Greece>>>>>>Europe. Owners pay for houses, cable, 3 or 4 cars, anything players want. You never believe me, but I been proved right again and again. You are so stupid you don't know nothing!

[lefty]

It would be funny if he relocated the Nets in Russia.


Da Nets

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

It starts innocently. And then one day when the "Nets private plane" is flying in for a road game against the Nuggets it starts raining Commie paratroopers. There's no Swayze to save us now! GAME OVER, MAN!!!!!!!!

[Culburn369]

There's no Swayze to save us now! GAME OVER, MAN!!!!!!!!

That ain't the worst of it:::those damn chicks won't cook dinner or wash the dishes. & we're probably not getting much trim either.

[ambchang]

Too bad KBP was banned, it would have been a riot with him in here.
Say, why did he get banned? IP banned? Maybe he would really have to move to Greece to access this site.

[jazzypimp]

Do I smell an A.K> russian rifle for Brooke Lopez in the works?? Bring it!

[Bukefal]

There it is...the Russians are slowly taking over everything :)

[redzero]

They better change the unis to red and yellow.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

The New Jersey Nyets

[23LeBronJames23]

They better change the unis to red and yellow.

or to white,blue and red like the russian flag

[mountainballer]

did anybody tell him that NBA teams have a salary cap? his big plan to go Abramovic and spend 200 million $ every summer just on buyouts for new players might need to be re thought.

[Pero]

The New Jersey Nyets

:lmao

[23LeBronJames23]

It would be funny if he relocated the Nets in Russia.


Da Nets

Da Nyets would be better.

[Kobayagi]

The New Jersey Nyets

ROFL! :lol

[Banzai]

The New Jersey Nyets

http://www.forumammo.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10062/Roflcopter%7E0.jpg (http://www.forumammo.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10062/Roflcopter%7E0.jpg)

[Stringer_Bell]

Now imagine the scenario where Lebron James signs with "The Brooklyn Nyets" and BAM! Just like that, Russia owns America's premier basketball star. :nope

[bostonguy]

A russian owner? Interesting

[23LeBronJames23]

Now imagine the scenario where Lebron James signs with "The Brooklyn Nyets" and BAM! Just like that, Russia owns America's premier basketball star. :nope

damn thats sweet cuz im part russian lol

[Stringer_Bell]

damn thats sweet cuz im part russian lol

Well, there may come a day when you're gonna have to decide whether you're a Cavs fan or a fan of Russia's Lebron. Be ready.

[ambchang]

сети Нью-Джерси

[Chieflion]

How did a Russian get so rich so quickly is kind of strange.

[2Cleva]

Nets’ pursuit of LeBron: From Russia, with love

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
8 hours, 3 minutes ago


Once LeBron James(notes) meets Mikhail Prokhorov, the superstar’s sightline will reflect an unprecedented visage. When offering a global vision of business and basketball, here’s an NBA owner who can look James in the eyes. Russia’s richest man is 6-foot-7 with an air of cool and a tenacity of the streets.

For James, there’s a chance that Prokhorov won’t seem like a stranger from a faraway place but rather a reflection of himself. Together, they are creations of their own industry and connected through a need for global conquest. All along, James has craved something bigger of basketball fame and fortune.

Once, it was Nets’ part-owner Jay-Z who planned to escort LeBron into Brooklyn. Now, this strapping 44-year-old Russian oligarch with an estimated fortune north of $9 billion has arrived in the NBA threatening to make Mark Cuban and Paul Allen feel like mom-and-pop store owners. Prokhorov comes with a flair and a steely obsession with winning.

Suddenly, his arsenal and ambition make him the most dangerous man in basketball.

“He has the personality, the charisma and the wherewithal to reach any of the league’s young stars on a level that I don’t think other owners can,” David Vanterpool said by phone Wednesday. “He likes to go out. He likes to fly to Europe and go to the most exclusive resorts. He’s going to connect with these guys.

“I would think right now that a lot of people in the NBA would be scared to death of this guy, if for nothing else the unknown of what he might do here.”

Vanterpool played two seasons for Prokhorov’s powerhouse CSKA in Moscow, winning Euroleague and Russian championships. These past two years, Vanterpool, who played for Detroit and Washington in the NBA, had a job on the CSKA bench as an assistant coach. He had heard the talk for years about his old boss wanting an NBA team, and finally Prokhorov made an offer that Nets beleaguered owner Bruce Ratner couldn’t refuse.

With lingering suggestions of possible underworld ties, there are some suggesting the Russian won’t pass the NBA vetting process. As long as his issues don’t spill into the public eye, no one should expect the commissioner’s office to dig them up. As vetting processes go, most expect this one to bring all the tenacity of a Michael Jordan gambling investigation.

And anyway, NBA ownership is hardly an exclusive club. For every upstanding Abe Pollin, there are far too many scoundrels, slime balls and empty suits. Prokhorov has posted $700 million to spare this sorry franchise, and the league will live with whatever ethical lapses befell him on his rise to becoming Russia’s richest billionaire.

For the NBA, James and Dwyane Wade(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes) – the Class of 2010 – are in play again in New York. The Knicks and Nets have cap space, and just maybe a star or two will come save the world’s biggest market.

The NBA has become a recession-ridden league with owners slashing roster payrolls and front-office staff. Owners are begging for commissioner David Stern to crush the Players Association in collective bargaining with a bigger percentage of league revenue and perhaps even a hard salary cap. As long as these CBA rules are in place, Prokhorov can offer the New York stage with unlimited resources. Cablevision reached its spending breaking point with the New York Knicks, but the days of the Nets as a cash-strapped punch line are over.

This Russian is liable to treat $70 million luxury-tax payments like drops in the Jersey Turnpike toll buckets.

“If he sees something as a reasonable, smart move, then money won’t be an issue,” Vanterpool said. “I don’t see the luxury tax affecting him. You’re talking about a billionaire who will take a two-week vacation that ends up costing him $10 million. He’ll do whatever it takes to win, and win big.”

Prokhorov’s brashness doesn’t come in the basketball arena but in the clubs and fancy European resorts. Truth be told, they never noticed where the owner would sit in the arena most nights in Moscow and seldom witnessed him courting coverage with the cameras and notebooks.

He far outspent other teams in Europe, won titles and now wants to do it on the biggest stage of all. He hired the best coach overseas and had payrolls bigger than some NBA teams. One NBA executive with strong Eastern European ties says to expect Russian and Lithuanian basketball legends Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis to be included in a dramatically changed Nets organization. With CSKA, Prokhorov tried to hire Toronto Raptors assistant GM Maurizio Gherardini but was spurned. He could revisit the Italian executive for the Nets’ top job, and it wouldn’t be long until the NBA had its first foreign coach, Ettore Messina.

For now, Prokhorov would be wise to re-sign president Rod Thorn to an extension, and sources with knowledge of the Russian billionaire believe it’s a distinct possibility.

Whatever happens, Prokhorov won’t be running the Nets like Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Prokhorov likes to hang with the players, but not so much in the locker room and huddles. He likes it in a social way, and so do they. It’s like running with James Bond, jets on a moment’s notice to the most exotic locations in the world. That’s how he lives, and that’s how they’ll roll. He can offer a superstar lifestyle that few would dare try in the public eye.

The fact there are whispers about him would give him street cred with a lot of players. Mostly, players see owners as dopes to be stroked, but invading Brooklyn with the Russian boss and a stocked, bloated payroll could be a blast.

Two years ago, Prokhorov was detained for four days as a material witness in an investigation into a prostitution ring at a French resort. He was never charged, but French authorities alleged someone was jetting prostitutes in and out of there. When his CKSA team traveled to the Euroleague championships, NBA executives marveled over the spillover of Prokhorov-supplied blondes and brunettes that turned the tournament locale into a remote Playboy Mansion.

“Unlike anything you’ve ever seen in your life,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “They flooded the hotel. But the [NBA office’s] international people know all about it. They were staying there, too.”

Said a Western Conference official, “Stern will have to put 24 hour guards around this guy’s castle. Unless this guy completely divorces himself from his lifestyle over there, he’s going to have a little trouble assimilating. I mean, we do have some rules over here. … But damn, he’s got more money than anyone here, and that’s going to win out.”

For whatever wink-wink that comes with suggesting that Prokhorov made his fortune as simply a “banker and mining executive,” there’s a grudging acceptance that he’s the future of the NBA. Someone had to get the Nets to Brooklyn, and if it took $700 million of funny money, most of Stern’s bottom-feeder owners couldn’t care less. When no one is looking, most of the NBA Board of Governors will be pestering Prokhorov for jet rides from Russia, with love.

“I guarantee you that some of the owners in our league who are desperate to sell were on the phone with Stern today looking for other foreign owners with deep pockets,” one team president said Wednesday.

LeBron James used Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert’s connections to get him into the prestigious Allen & Company billionaire conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, this summer, a gathering of 260 of America’s richest and most powerful people. As much as James wants to win championships, he also wants an unprecedented global brand. There’s still a good chance that he’ll pursue it with his hometown Cavaliers, but the odds tilted a touch on Wednesday, when a $9 billion man pledged $700 million to a fledgling NBA franchise.

One of these days, Mikhail Prokhorov could get his audience with LeBron and other NBA stars, and tempt them with unprecedented resources and possibilities. Historic player meets historic owner, gaze into each other’s eyes and they’re liable to concoct the most historic partnership of all.

As the Nets bled money, as the move to Brooklyn seemed a bleaker proposition, it felt like Cleveland could exhale. Suddenly, the game changes and here comes this charismatic and charming and murky Russian rolling out of his jet with basketball’s deepest pockets and a gripping global pitch.

Here comes trouble for everyone.

Here comes tomorrow.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ArQV3r2j48qBftfhrXDYe77TjdIF?slug=aw-lebronnets092309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns&print=1

[mountainballer]

How did a Russian get so rich so quickly is kind of strange.

how?
read the Rockefeller or Carnegie bio and you will find some parallelism.

[hater]

wait, what the fuck does JayZ own then??

[Bukefal]

Interesting story. These new rich russians are taking over everything in the world. I just hope the game will not be f*cked up with this new money, like what happened to football in Europe.

[jonnybravo]

Interesting story. These new rich russians are taking over everything in the world. I just hope the game will not be f*cked up with this new money, like what happened to football in Europe.


Salary cap and CBA.

Why do articles keep saying this guy is the richest owner in the NBA? At 18 B net worth, Paul Allen doubles him up.

[bobbybob0]

The deal comes as the developer Bruce C. Ratner, who owns the Nets, is rushing to complete the financing for an $800 million arena at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn and start construction by the end of the year. Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, has been eager to bring in a major new investor because the team loses tens of millions of dollars a year and the arena project has been hobbled by costly legal challenges and three years of delays.

(...)

Under the terms of the deal, Prokhorov would invest $200 million in the Nets in exchange for an 80 percent stake in the team and 45 percent of the arena, according to a statement released by Forest City Ratner. He would also take on some of the team’s debts, executives said, reducing Ratner’s 23 percent stake as well as that of other investors.

So this Russian guy is buying 45% of a $800 million arena and 80% of the Nets for just $200 millions?

Did I read something wrong?

[Basketballgirl25]

Maybe he just wants to win, and has so much money that he don't give a fuck about a salary cap. I hope I'm wrong.

I HOPE YOUR RIGHT:toast

[Basketballgirl25]

wait, what the fuck does JayZ own then??
he owns like 20% of the nets I think, I don't really remember:lol

[mountainballer]

Interesting story. These new rich russians are taking over everything in the world. I just hope the game will not be f*cked up with this new money, like what happened to football in Europe.

just because Abramovic burned more than 1 billion for new players in the last 6 years, it doesn't mean that European football has turned into a Russian party.
and no other rich group in the world shrinked as much as these new rich Russians in the last year.

[Morg1411]

wait, what the fuck does JayZ own then??

He's a minority owner.

(And no, that's not racist.)

[Indazone]

Lies! Is Racist!!

Everyone knows richest is owner of Aris! Greek Basketball have richest owners in all Euroleague.

[Bukefal]

just because Abramovic burned more than 1 billion for new players in the last 6 years, it doesn't mean that European football has turned into a Russian party.
and no other rich group in the world shrinked as much as these new rich Russians in the last year.

No no, with making the link with european football I did not mean that it will become some Russian party. What I meant was, I hope NBA will not become f*cked up because of money and power, like what happened to european football. I hope the game will stay the game, in European football, the game has gone for a while now, its not the same, its not enjoyable anymore in this way..

[hater]

The New Jersey Nyets

:wow :wow :wow this nigga christened them????