Some Perspective: Inside Robert Sarver's Finances

[rsavaj]

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2009/ ... oney-money

246 million dollar loss? Kinda makes it a bit more understandable why the dude is trying to shed some salary.

With that being said, I can't say I like the guy.

[Inconspicuous]

don't buy a sports franchise and look at it as an investment to make money, his fault. his cheapass ruined the suns franchise

[tsherkin]

Inconspicuous has it; if you've got financial issues, you don't buy an f'g multimillion dollar annual expense that isn't expected to turn a significant profit... That was just stupid. Sarver gets no sympathy, he can STFU. Sell the team, jackass.

[BurningHeart]

Sell it back to Colangelo.

I beg of you.

[enigmatics]

don't buy a sports franchise and look at it as an investment to make money, his fault. his cheapass ruined the suns franchise

Cheap? Hardly. Unable to create a front office atmosphere catered to making smart basketball personnel decisions? Yes.

[OzzyAZ]

-240 million? That's 80 years worth of first round picks.

We're f--ked

[Mr. Sun]

The way I understand it, Sarver sold Zions Bancorporation in 2002 and received a windfall from that, so I'm not sure he has a lot of bank exposure right now. Suns partners assumed something like $220 million of existing debt when they bought the Suns. They probably did get in over their head in paying the price they did for the team.

Sports business today is truly a business of billionaires with large liquid assets because of huge inflated costs in terms of salaries and team values that creates a big bubble. I think when Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers and the Forum he paid $68 million.

Strictly speaking, Suns ownership cannot shift gears from being competitive to being totally cost sensitive because that will impact revenue. McDonald's earning grew 29% in the fourth quarter not from higher prices but from low prices and better menu. If Suns attempt to raise its menu prices or skimp on the quality of its food then they can expect to lose money.

They need to cut salary costs and get under the cap so they can enjoy revenue sharing from teams like Lakers, Knicks or Mav's. But they have to be careful not to ignore talent. Anything less then exciting on the floor will send them reeling faster than anything.

Worst case Arizona might have to subsidize the team to keep them in business like LA does with the Hornets. But guess what? The state doesn't have the money right now to give to the Hornets and the Hornets cannot survive without it! They couldn't even afford to move. CP3 might be on the trading block this time next year

[-SDU-]

not many sports franchises actually turn a profit - sarver had to know that at the time he bought the team

i dont think cost cutting with the suns is because he is out of $$, i think he doesnt want to spend big bucks without getting big results

so cut salary this year and make a play for a more suitable player in free agency i guess is the mantra

i dont trading amare is due to $$ in the sense of saving it as much as its looking to direct it elsewhere in the future

[mkot]

If the goal is to make profit, not to win a title, then what the F is $arver doing owning an NBA team in the first place? And to whoever said $arver isn't cheap, let me remind you that cheaping out at draft time is indefensible and that's C-H-E-A-P. The evidence is in the picks that we have sold and the player that they have become. Starting from the Deng/Iggy trade and it hasn't stop. We gave up Q ($37M), KT ($8M), and 3 1st round picks ($9M) all to get a CONDITIONAL 2nd round pick. Now that's brilliant. Because this trade single-handedly destroyed our present and future for the sake of saving a few dollars in order to get rid of the player we needed most in the playoffs.

He ruined this team, and still want to paint himself victim? F him.

[-SDU-]

sure he saved money with some things, but its not like he didnt spend it elsewhere

unlike other clubs who draft rooks but never pay free agents etc

[garrick]

If he can't afford the team he should sell it, though who would buy the Suns now for 200+ million dollars given the finacial turmoil right now?

[-SDU-]

200 mil? didnt he pay $380 for it when he bought it?

shaq and hill wanted to buy the magic - why not the suns?

[Mccloud]

If the goal is to make profit, not to win a title, then what the F is $arver doing owning an NBA team in the first place? And to whoever said $arver isn't cheap, let me remind you that cheaping out at draft time is indefensible and that's C-H-E-A-P. The evidence is in the picks that we have sold and the player that they have become. Starting from the Deng/Iggy trade and it hasn't stop. We gave up Q ($37M), KT ($8M), and 3 1st round picks ($9M) all to get a CONDITIONAL 2nd round pick. Now that's brilliant. Because this trade single-handedly destroyed our present and future for the sake of saving a few dollars in order to get rid of the player we needed most in the playoffs.

He ruined this team, and still want to paint himself victim? F him.

Very well put. The Suns are crumbling from the top down. The NBA as a whole I fell is losing an edge on what a great sport "basketball" really is...... Large chunks of this are due to situations and people like Robert Sarver . F Him Indeed

[The Diesel]

Speaking of Sarver...

As Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver reaches out to other NBA owners and proposes his own trade deals for Amare Stoudemire, he could be undermining his franchise’s chance to get the best possible package for the All-Star forward, league sources said.

NBA executives say that Sarver has contacted team owners – including those of the Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies – in an attempt to broker a deal for Stoudemire. While the Suns’ basketball executives are discussing one possible package with teams, Sarver has, at times, appeared be pursuing his own agenda.

Some teams believe this is a circumstance they can exploit, and suggest that Suns GM Steve Kerr and David Griffin, the franchise’s VP of basketball operations, have been compromised.

“It makes [the owner] look too motivated,” said one Western Conference GM who was aware of Sarver’s calls. “It makes them look desperate.”

As an Eastern Conference GM wondered: “What in the world are two owners going to come up with that the GMs haven’t already discussed?

“This is how bad deals happen.”

Sarver didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo! Sports late Tuesday.

Kerr and Griffin are engaged in discussions with multiple teams for Stoudemire, with Chicago, Golden State, Portland, Sacramento and Memphis and others seriously pursuing him. For the Suns to get the best possible package for Stoudemire, they need Stoudemire’s suitors to believe that they’re willing to let the trade deadline pass on Feb. 19 without moving him.

Mostly, Phoenix needs to avoid looking desperate. Yet Sarver – who has a reputation for being impulsive and overzealous – has left teams dubious of believing Kerr’s bluff that he doesn’t have to trade Stoudemire.

For the Suns to bring back a package for Stoudemire that makes more basketball than financial sense, sources say, they’ll have to move the contracts of Shaquille O’Neal or Leandro Barbosa.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AvgYnYlYdhXgpXUDJkcwOJW8vLYF?slug=aw-sunstrades021109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[WTFsunsFTW]

sure he saved money with some things, but its not like he didnt spend it elsewhere

unlike other clubs who draft rooks but never pay free agents etc

Um, what free agents have we broke the bank for?


Hill? Marks? Amudson? Barnes? That's less than 5 mil right there. Who else has he signed that was even over 3 million!?!?? Banks? Sarver had buyers' remorse the minute he dished over his first paycheck. And now he is gone.

The only things I can think of is he extended Barbosa and Diaw. Barbs is known as having one of the best contracts around, meaning Sarver got the better end of that deal. Diaw was removed from Sarver's payroll.

Please tell me where else he spent the money he saved.

I am truly clueless as to where he spent money.

I'm all for seeing every point to a story, but you're straight up wrong.

[Mr. Sun]

^^ Explains the slamming of doors db mentioned earlier.

[Sun Scorched]

Sarver may be cheap, but he's not an idiot.

His personal losses spoken of earlier are not "paper" or "realized" yet. Sarver won't sell out of any of those assets, so it's immaterial how much he has lost up until now.

I can't imagine his personal losses would impact his business decisions. Guys like Sarver are usually good at drawing lines between the two.

[The Hypnotoad]

You'd think the NBA (in trying to keep its league competitive) would eliminate the luzury tax penalty in these tough times. But instead they're probably counting on it to save their own butts. So the NBA's pockets will get a little bigger while the actual teams and competition will get worse. Meanwhile, the big markets like LA and Boston will happily stay on top while the small market teams will go back to being terrible. Just the way tehe NBA wants it.

[Miklo]

Sarver may be cheap, but he's not an idiot.

His personal losses spoken of earlier are not "paper" or "realized" yet. Sarver won't sell out of any of those assets, so it's immaterial how much he has lost up until now.

I can't imagine his personal losses would impact his business decisions. Guys like Sarver are usually good at drawing lines between the two.

+1. Right now we are at a point in our economy where the poor get poorer and the rich get even poorer. To look at a finance guru's portfolio and say that he has a few hundred mil of unrealized losses is an interesting study, but to imply that because his portfolio has taken a hit he will trade basketball players for cheaper basketball players so that he can have an even less profitable franchise is ludicrous (believe it or not, if you have $40 million come off your books and don't replace that talent, you are actually losing money overall via ticket sales and brand equity).

Troubled investors right now are liquidating assets to cover margin calls on their loans. If Sarver was looking to get cash from the Suns, he would sell them. Yes, I know he would have to sell it at a discount but you would never trade players and build a more lean NBA franchise as a source of cash to cover unrealized losses.

[eastsidecrossover]

the lux tax is what is killing most franchises. The other is stern. I don't give a sh** if you like him or not, but that is a sh** load of money. And I bet no one in here will ever see that kind $$ in there lifetime.

Next, we are fans and we don't care. We want to win. He has spent money on his guys, but did it in a way that he would not be in more debt. I think he and others are not making good basketball moves, but lay off of the cheap stuff. That is a lot of money man.