Well it appears Miami Heat Owner Micky Arison is not done his belly aching about the new Collective Bargaining Agreement the league and players ended up with after the lockout. Micky is stealing some headlines today after making the comment that the Miami Heat will likely have had a losing season this year financially, even after winning the NBA Championship. The strange part about the source of the comments is that Arison was one of the owners early on in the lockout negotiations in favor of siding with players and accepting their offer to ensure a shortened lockout. What’s changed Micky?
So how does Arison explain how the team might have lost money after selling out its second straight season and 13 home playoff games?
“With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, it works against us because of the dollars we had under contract already and the revenue sharing,” Arison said.
The Heat paid its players approximately $65 million for the 66-game season this year. A $1 for $1 luxury tax above the $58 million salary cap cost them about $7 million more. Then there’s revenue sharing and the Heat qualify as a team in the top third of revenue that has to share its revenue with the lower money-making teams.
Arison wants us to believe that paying $7M in luxury tax, and subsidizing the smaller market teams through fees has made the Miami Heat a losing proposition. I have a hard time believing that Micky. And even if its true, here is a lesson for all the other owners in player salary budgeting. If you want to make a profit, don’t try and emulate New York regarding the salary cap. Regardless, I think Micky is going to do just fine with this franchise over the next decade. I hear they are pretty good at basketball…
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