What do you think happens tomorrow? What does the NBA do? What can they do?
The press conference is at 2pm. Predictions accepted until then.
The press conference is at 2pm. Predictions accepted until then.
Get ready for disaster, stubborn old dude isn't gonna sell out of spite and the NBA can't force him to (also who is willing and able to pay the cost. The Bucks who have a terrible stadium and deal just fetched $550M. Market value for the Clips with their locked in 10 year lease and a huge market is being estimated at upwards of $1B), everyone who has knowledge of the NBA ownership agreements says he'd win any legal challenge pretty easily.NWsoxophile said:As for tomorrow I'd guess he'll be suspended indefinitely. I think the league and the union will exert every possible pressure on him over the summer to sell. It will be a disaster for the league if he still owns the Clips come the start of the 2014-15 season.
Cellar-Door said:Get ready for disaster, stubborn old dude isn't gonna sell out of spite and the NBA can't force him to (also who is willing and able to pay the cost. The Bucks who have a terrible stadium and deal just fetched $550M. Market value for the Clips with their locked in 10 year lease and a huge market is being estimated at upwards of $1B), everyone who has knowledge of the NBA ownership agreements says he'd win any legal challenge pretty easily.
He's stretching immensely if he thinks they will be able to get a judge to agree that saying racist things to his girlfriend is a failure to fulfill a "contractual obligation". From the "anonymous" comments to reporters a bunch of people inside the league office seem to think that is a no hope argument, as do some of the other sports law writers. For an example. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20140426/donald-sterling-la-clippers-adam-silver-nba/jon abbey said:
Lester Munson thinks that a 3/4 vote of the other owners could legally force him out, actually:
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/10852199/challenge-donald-sterling
JimBoSox9 said:It's not a league that can have this problem, sometimes you fight a battle you know you can't win just to say you did.
I suspect something vaguely more amicable will be worked out, but if Sterling wants to go to the mattresses, yes, absofuckinglutely.wutang112878 said:
Huh? Are you saying the league cant force him to sell but they have to act like it?
ivanvamp said:Could the league (the other owners plus commissioner's office) simply vote to disband the Clippers? I mean, hey, great, you still own the team, but the team isn't allowed in the NBA anymore! Is that possible?
JimBoSox9 said:I suspect something vaguely more amicable will be worked out, but if Sterling wants to go to the mattresses, yes, absofuckinglutely.
The minimum viable outcome of this for the NBA is everyone (LeBron) to be well and convinced they did everything possible to get the racist sonofabitch out of their league. If it doesn't work, oh well, everyone hates lawyers anyways. Anything less and they have a real problem. The negativity has to be 100% on Sterling and 0% on the NBA, even if it means (horrors) taking low-probability legal action.
dcmissle said:Silver should do the maximum of what he clearly can do under the rules, which probably includes a lengthy suspension. The rest will take care of itself.
He's dead. On the court because players won't play for him and coaches won't coach for him down the road. Off the court because, much sooner, sponsors will flee and fans won't buy his merchandise. Then there is the matter of attendance.
So he's holding a wasting asset and like all smart businessmen in these circumstances, he'll bail.
Not immediately, but down the road. And I could easily see whoever the Clippers draft in a few weeks refusing to report to the team.riboflav said:
I have a hard time believing that players will turn down millions of dollars to play for the Clippers. If no one will play there, then what?? The NBA has one less team and 12 fewer jobs for players? Fat chance.
dcmissle said:Not immediately, but down the road. And I could easily see whoever the Clippers draft in a few weeks refusing to report to the team.
Now I'd like you to tell me where Sterling is going to come up with the money until today provided by State Farm, Kia, Car Fax and all the other sponsors.
Because they wisely include contractual clauses in these agreements that allow them to walk away at a moment's notice in circumstances like these.ivanvamp said:
If, say, State Farm, has a contract to advertise with the Clippers, then how can they back out of that contract without paying the Clippers what they contractually owe them?
I can't. You're telling me a kid with no income source is going to turn down a multi-million dollar contract, and any chance to play in the NBA. NBA draft rights don't expire, they own you forever.dcmissle said:Not immediately, but down the road. And I could easily see whoever the Clippers draft in a few weeks refusing to report to the team.
Now I'd like you to tell me where Sterling is going to come up with the money until today provided by State Farm, Kia, Car Fax and all the other sponsors.
Problem is it isn't exactly open and shut that they can do it. Munson posted some of the language, it is definitely vague enough that Sterling would get an injunction to stop it, and the court battle would be fierce, long and publicly ugly. The 3/4 vote clause is unlikely to be used, it is really just leverage to convice Sterling to sell or transfer the team.Tony C said:If Silver comes out and says he's going to call for that 3/4 vote, I have a hard time thinking that 1/4 of league owners would dare stand up to the sort of pressure they'd be under to go along. It's his smart move.
Being old probably makes it more likely he'd battle not less, it wouldn't be much of a bother to him, he can afford it, and he doesn't have to worry about future business deals etc since he has more than enough to live very well for the rest of his life.Fred not Lynn said:Maybe Sterling's legal team is ready for a years of legal battling, but don't forget, the guy is 80. How many years of legal battling does he have left?
Cellar-Door said:
Problem is it isn't exactly open and shut that they can do it. Munson posted some of the language, it is definitely vague enough that Sterling would get an injunction to stop it, and the court battle would be fierce, long and publicly ugly. The 3/4 vote clause is unlikely to be used, it is really just leverage to convice Sterling to sell or transfer the team.
Jnai said:
Ultimately, I think his own pride forces him out faster than any ownership deal or 3/4 vote. If he was concerned about his mistress posting pictures of herself on instagram with Magic Johnson, he must be way more image conscious than we would otherwise think. Guy must be beside himself that he's being publicly smeared like this.
I second this: 1m fine, indef suspension from active involvement. And I will add the prediction that the NBA 3/4 vote never gets used. The other owners don't want to set that precedent.HomeRunBaker said:* $1m fine today.
* Indefinite suspension from all team and league activities effective today.
* League will work swiftly with other 29 owners to "potentially" pursue other actions.
* Silver uses the word "swiftly" 4 times during presser.
It's not unprecedented. Ricky Rubio and other foreign players have done this. A player could hold out to force a trade and/or play overseas.Cellar-Door said:I can't. You're telling me a kid with no income source is going to turn down a multi-million dollar contract, and any chance to play in the NBA. NBA draft rights don't expire, they own you forever.
What would be interesting is if after one owner blows it bc he fails to realize that rich people don't live in a bubble anymore 29 other owners make the same mistake.Tony C said:If Silver comes out and says he's going to call for that 3/4 vote, I have a hard time thinking that 1/4 of league owners would dare stand up to the sort of pressure they'd be under to go along. It's his smart move.
Van Everyman said:What would be interesting is if after one owner blows it bc he fails to realize that rich people don't live in a bubble anymore 29 other owners make the same mistake.
This whole episode, embarrassing as it is, is ultimately a referendum on sports ownership – specifically the end of a century living by a completely different set of rules than everyone else. Rules that permit racism and bigotry, abject cruelty and unethical business practices that were largely eradicated from the workplace decades ago.
Social media may enact a crude form of justice—and these guys will continue, by and large, to be assholes of the highest order—but in the long run, this will be a good thing because it establishes that how these guys conduct themselves—in public and private—matters.
NBA lawyers have listened to audio in presence of V. Stiviano and are satisfied it is Donald Sterling’s voice on the tape. (via @ TMZ)[twitter]SportsCenter[/twitter]
I thought Jnai made a good point. I hadn't considered the potential for litigation from the perspective of how Sterling is viewing this news cycle. Like you, I wasn't really crediting him with any human reactions and didn't consider that he may actually be troubled by his now-magnified racist reputation.wutang112878 said:
Not to pick on you because a lot of people are doing it, but I dont understand why people are assuming Sterling is a decent, normal human being who take rationale steps. He publicly flaunts a mistress. He wasnt concerned with her flaunting those pictures instead he was concerned with the skin color of the person she was flaunting. He literally said "Don't bring black people, and don't come."