Uh Oh, Another Concerning Sixers Ownership Story
Forbes has a story today about Joshua Harris – OF COURSE THEY DO– ALL JOSHUA HARRIS STORIES ARE IN BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS – wanting to bring an NFL team to London, where he’s already part-owner of Crystal Palace. That’s noteworthy on its own, but it’s the following section that really deserves ?:
“They’re more interested in getting the NFL in London than they are in the NBA,’’ the source said. “Their No. 1 goal is to get the NFL team in London. They want to flip the Sixers anyway.’’
Publicly, however, Harris has been very strong in his commitment to seeing things through with the Sixers, one of the worst teams in the NBA. He told the Philadelphia Daily News only two months ago: “I expect to be, and the ownership group expects to be, happily involved with the Philadelphia 76ers for many, many years to come. There’s not plans to sell it.’’
The Harris-Blitzer team, which also owns the NHL New Jersey Devils, bought the Sixers in 2011 for approximately $285 million. According to industry sources, they could fetch upwards of $900 million if they sell. If they’re waiting for a turnaround for their team before unloading it, that could come now with the hiring this week of the respected, long-time basketball executive Jerry Colangelo, formerly Suns founder and owner, as the team’s new chairman of basketball operations.
And that’s the doomsday scenario, folks. The one potential issue looming in the background during this whole rebuild has been the idea that Harris and Co. would flip the Sixers after more than tripling their investment, thanks to lucrative national TV rights deals.
On the surface, the tank makes basketball sense, and combined with a renewed branding effort, new partnerships, and a practice facility, it’s easy to see how the Sixers could be positioned for greatness (really). But, the flip side is that ownership has cut costs while increasing value and accumulating assets (practice facility, paid for by New Jersey taxpayers). That makes the Sixers attractive to potential buyers, who might be willing to pay 4x what Harris paid. And it could make the last three years one of the greatest ruses in sports history.
This is just the latest in a series of unfortunate and concerning stories about the Sixers: The can has continually been kicked down the road in the name of rebuilding (or, more nefariously, cost-saving). The Jahlil Okafor incidents made it clear that the organization wasn’t even attempting to take care of its young players. We learned that league owners and the commissioner had a hand in the Sixers hiring Jerry Colangelo – though a CBS article today says it was Harris who went to Adam Silver to broker the deal – the perfect guy to either A) take the rebuild to the next level with all of Hinkie’s acquired assets (thanks, Sam, now we’ll turn it over to a pro), or B) get things back to respectability so Harris can sell the team.
I’m still not convinced the plan is to sell. You get the sense Harris feels cool owning an NBA team and back-slapping Allen Iverson a few times each year. But a sale wouldn’t necessarily spell doom for the Sixers, either. They still have some serious young talent, draft picks, and cap space. Also of note is that GSI Commerce founder Michael Rubin is a co-owner. He’s a local guy, estimated to be worth more than Harris, had season tickets long before he bought into the team, and is such a hoops geek that he shamelessly trudged across the court to pat Kobe Bryant on the shoulder last week. He’s from the area and likes basketball. I wonder if he’d buy-out Harris’ stake?
This is all purely conjecture. But consider this Forbes story another chink in the goodwill armor. The Sixers are beginning to take on a bad stink. Somewhere, Howard Eskin and Tony Bruno pound their hairy man-chests and prepare their I Told You So Rally for Sanity and Accountability.