In reality, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is the National Basketball Association’s hero. Putting that in context, the NBA would – obviously – never admit it.
But, the timing of Sterling’s spectacular caught-on-tape faux paus (to put it lightly) was extremely convenient and valuable for the NBA. At the moment, few are really discussing the more significant ownership disparity issue.
Thus, the Sterling controversy came at a time when the NCAA found its March Madness overshadowed by debate, commentary and aggravation over unpaid college athletes, the extent of which led to the unionization of Northwestern University’s football team. That conversation naturally brought up uncomfortable thoughts on race given the heavy proportion of black players feeding the $1 billion plus booming college playoff machine. And it was only a matter of time, since many of those black players end up in the NBA, that we’d be having louder conversations about the cozy neo-plantation set-up NBA owners enjoy at the expense of many an unknowing and financially illiterate baller not able or not willing to understand the broader socio-economic dynamics of their profession.
Nor should they be fully expected to understand that as many are paid multi-millions to do their job, entertain and be amazingly good at what they do. Yet, the episode highlighted what Chris Rock once joked as being the gap between “the rich and the wealthy” – the players may be rich judging by the paychecks they get (so why complain, some may rant), but the owners who cut the checks and sign them are the truly wealthy individuals. The players mostly being black and the owners, all but one, being white.
That arrangement is what’s making quite a few folks uncomfortable when taking a look at the general landscape of the professional basketball business. The Sterling mess, as openly ratchet and foul tasting as it was, smelled no different from other episodes once reactions are compared. We get more drawn into the theatrics than we do the substance. The public, not really all that sophisticated on matters of race as it assumes, gets caught up in the less consequential butter or, rather, the rhetorical level of the conversation. The noise clutters up needed evaluations of the real problem.
This presented an opening for newly seated NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. He gets rave reviews and slaps on the back for appearing to ride in on a white horse, his actions characterized as “swift” and “eye popping.” All the commentary on Silver’s decision to ban Sterling from the NBA for life centers on how shocked everyone is by the move – fines were expected, perhaps even a suspension. A lifetime ban? That was unprecedented and front-cover-of-TIME worthy let the sports pundits tell it.
But, it was a choice between something dramatic or a much more uncomfortable scenario in which the entire league would have ended up under a microscope and a possible boycott at the worst time. It’s not like this was the first time the league knew of Sterling’s limitless capacity for racism. Hence, creating flare and decisiveness with respect to Sterling’s verbal fumble ends up being one of the most skillful distraction plays of the year.
Banning Sterling makes for a good cable movie or Bryant Gumbel voice-over HBO Sports special, but it’s not raising or addressing the issue of team ownership in relationship to player population and control. The league is worth an estimated $12 billion in value, and much of that value is accumulated through the seasonal sweat of a court-running workforce that is 80 percent African American. Over 30 percent of NBA fans are also African American, compared to 46 percent who are white. Yet, only one NBA franchise owner is black, that being former Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan – and some could argue his ownership is, technically, not really all that much ownership as it is a representation of a collaborative venture. White ownership of NBA teams is at 98 percent, and the league’s front office staff is only 18 percent black.
Of course, this is capitalism and – market forces being market forces – it is what it is. It just so happens that there are just way more wealthy white guys with the ability to buy NBA teams than black folks. But, the optics of this have never looked good for modern professional sports and the stubborn reluctance of owners to engage in pure profit and franchise sharing with their largely black players. And it wasn’t until recently that the NBA finally reached a point where it celebrated the highest share of black coaches in all professional sports, including the NFL.
Hence, black players and coaches may be controlling the hardwood, but they are most certainly not included in the decisions that pay the bills to keep those floors waxed and cleaned. There are a variety of reasons for that, not all of it the fault of white male owners, but strongly linked enough to a legacy of structural racism for the NBA to respond to it. What will be telling is if the NBA encourages a process in which an African American buyer is seriously considered and locked in. Names such as Oprah Winfrey present one of the more realistic suitors reportedly in talks with Oracle icon Larry Ellison (unrelated – I wish, though) and entertainment titan David Geffen. Although a Magic Johnson purchase would put a nice, ironic ending on the tale, he’s already denying interest in it – plus, his net worth is only $500 million stacked up against a LA Clippers franchise that’s now worth close to $600 million.
Wherever this ends up, the NBA should make an effort to diversify ownership rather than maintain the all-white owners club status quo. The story doesn’t just end with Sterling out of the picture. Where do we go from here? It wouldn’t hurt for Congress to maybe ask some questions while at it.
CHARLES D. ELLISON is a veteran political strategist and Chief Political Correspondent for UPTOWN Magazine. He’s also host of the weekly politics tweetcast #Uptownhall, Wednesdays at 2pm ET @uptownmagazine. Catch him each week as the Philadelphia Tribune’s Washington Correspondent and a frequent contributor to The Root. He can be reached via Twitter @charlesdellison