BRI for local television deals

Wewing · Post #1 » by **Wewing** » Thu Jan 3, 2019 4:22 pm

I checked Larry Coon's Salary cap faq for this, but couldn't find the answer. How are broadcast rights calculated for purposes of BRI when they are retained by a team (not sold off)? For example, the Bulls own 20% of NBC Sports Chicago, and not surprisingly a large portion of their games (50%, maybe?) appear on that network. As far as I know, these TV rights are not put out for bid, and if any money does change hands it seems like it would be going out of one Bulls pocket and back into another. So if NBC Sports Chicago "pays" the Bulls a pittance like $10,000 to broadcast 41 games, does that mean the players share for cap calculations would only be $5,000? Or is some other number used in this case?

DBoys · Post #2 » by **DBoys** » Thu Jan 3, 2019 4:35 pm

It would make no sense to do a sweetheart deal since doing so would mean the Bulls owners are essentially gifting 80% of whatever discount to the other 80% owners of NBC Sports Chicago. In cases where there's no distinction, however, such as with NYK, they do adjustments in the BRI accounting as needed. Rest assured that the NBPA receives and examines the numbers, compares them rationally, and addresses this sort of stuff where it exists.

Wewing · Post #3 » by **Wewing** » Thu Jan 3, 2019 4:57 pm

Thanks DBoys, I figured there would be a rational answer. It's not the sort of thing that comes up in self-congratulatory press releases (that's what made me think of it--NBC Sports Chicago just announced a new deal with 3 of the local franchises, but also didn't mention those teams hold 60% of its current ownership.)