Michael-
Can you comment on the hawks being on the Forbes list in the bottom five of the league with negative $2.3m in revenues?
I know the stadium is always sold out (since Sept 5, 2002) and people are sure drinking plenty of beer at the games. Do we have a bad tv deal? (does the count towards revenue sharing?)Can we blame the loss on Alexander's contract? :p
Does Allen not care if the team loses money? I know he has tons but he doesnt strike me as the kind of guy who likes any business that looses money. Plus, if the team were ever to take a dip in performance and attendence suffered a little it would seem the team would just lose more money.
forbes article
http://www.forbes.com/lists/
2007...s_Income_2.html
espn stadium article
http://sports.espn.go.com/
espnma...anchise08rank18
I not sure why the Hawks show a loss on that list. It is only a snapshot of 2006, so it is possible that it is not indicative of the team overall. The Hawks are middle of the pack in value, and they have very little debt, so maybe they paid of some of the stadium debt that year. Who knows?
One thing I would say is that you are right about Paul Allen, he is a very savvy business man. If the Hawks are losing money, I haven't heard about it. They keep the ticket prices near the bottom of the league, so if they really were losing money I would expect that wouldn't be the case.
The TV deals are national TV deals that all clubs get an equal cut of. They probably don't make a ton off local tv and radio, and they probably don't sell as many jerseys nationally as other teams, but I wouldn't worry about the financial health of the team.
That is an interesting article though, I will be interested if they follow it up soon with 07 #'s
I am not buying the loss. Its a paper tiger, like Allens less than 3% loan from the NFL to build his tiny share of the stadium.
Even in the dark ages, Behring made money every year. Allen is way too smart to be losing money. If he is showing a loss, its a tax maneuver, plain and simple.
This one stinks to high heaven.
I agree, Paul Allen (like I would imagine the rest of us) is in it to make money. If he wasn't, although he loves the Hawks and Blazers, he would have bailed by now. Being where we are in the NFL and NBA world we are small-time but that's how it is until we win championships. The NFC title a few years back helped, and consistent playoff berths has to help a little. And as far as the Blazers (hate to bring up a sore subject to my neighbors to the north) are young and full of talent.
Mr. Allen will have no problems with keeping his teams and costs down, especially since this year I am buying a few more jerseys to wear to the games
What has Paul Allen ever done to indicate that he is a "very savvy businessman"? Microsoft may have never made it without his technical ability, but the business success was Gates' doing way more than Allen's. Paul Allen has been said to have lost more money than any other human in history, and his business dealings show that he cares way more about outcome than profit. (And I think the world is better for it, too.)
Paul Allen lost more money than anyone in history? Where is that stat from? The guy is really well diversified with his different companies, Vulcan, Hawks, Blazers, all the property he owns in the greater Seattle area. He was able to get a very sweet deal on Quest field and look what he is doing in South Lake Union. Gates is a very good visionairy but he only has 2 things on his plate (soon to be one with him stepping down) Microsoft's vision and the Gates foundation. How many companies and investments and interests that are successful and in different areas does Paul have? I would say more than 2. I think that Paul has demonstrated a more well rounded skill set in the business world than Gates has (not to say he couldnt, just hasnt).
That is an opinion - not a statistic. I saw it expressed by L. Jon Wertheim in a Sports Illustrated article titled "The Quiet Owner: Paul Allen", back in November.
In the article, Wertheim said:
"While a net worth of $16 billion doesn't exactly reduce a man to eating Top Ramen, Allen may well have lost more money than anyone in the history of humankind. Wall Street had a laugh at the eccentric "accidental zillionaire," noting that had he simply held on to his Microsoft stock -- that is, had he adopted no investment strategy whatsoever -- his net worth would have exceeded $80 billion."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com...llen1203/
5.html
The article focuses on Allen's ownership of the Seahawks and the Portland Trailblazers, but mentions many of his other dealings. Many of them have bettered mankind, but not Allen's wallet, hence my comment about the world being better for his apparent lack of concern about losing money.
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