See a Chinese or Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund hold an NBA franchise? It’s not tomorrow the day before. While the Great League authorized this type of investment a few months ago, within a limited and controlled framework, Adam Silver thus assures that there is no chance, ” in the near future », that sovereign wealth funds become the majority owners of a franchise.
” I don’t mean never to say never, but that’s not being considered right now. By this I mean that it is very important for us, putting aside the sovereign wealth funds, that individuals control our teams, are responsible towards the fans, towards their partners and towards the players. It is very important to us that there is a person (in charge)independently of sovereign wealth funds », keep the league big boss.
His speech will not surprise anyone since at the beginning of June he had already declared that these funds were authorized ” invest in teams, but not control or influence them “. In the meantime, we learned that the “Qatar Investment Authority”, the sovereign investment fund of the Emirate of Qatar, in particular owner of Paris Saint-Germain, had been the first to move.
QIA has picked up a stake – 5%, an investment of around $200 million – in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the parent company that runs the Washington Wizards (NBA), Washington Capitals (NHL) and Washington Mystics. (WNBA).
Nothing irrational
To hear Adam Silver today, this first investment should call for others as the value of franchises has skyrocketed in recent years. As a result, fewer and fewer individuals are able to commit themselves financially. And that’s what obviously weighed in the NBA’s opening pick.
” I don’t think there is anything irrational. Part of the reason we’ve opened up investment opportunities to private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds is because we frankly lack people who can sign for such amounts, especially when you’re not going be the owner who controls the team “, thus defends the “commissioner”.
The latter, despite the issues of “soft power” and “sportwashing” underlying these investments, still sees the arrival of these new players very favorably. “ So I continue, as you might expect, to be very optimistic about the opportunity before us. But again, if you look at the fundamentals of our sport, and especially the interest of all these different platforms for broadcasting live sports programs… That’s why we have a very positive outlook. »
