The myth of Reinsdorf's cheapness

[dice]

Compared to basically every other owner of a sports franchise, he is cheap. Its probably because most sports franchises are playthings. The Bulls are one of the few sports organizations that are run like a business.

this is completely false. the nfl and nhl have hard salary caps that almost ensure profits. just about every team spends roughly the same amount on player salaries. mlb is the closest thing to sports capitalism and thus team payrolls vary wildly - due to business considerations

the chicago bulls could field a good team every once in a while and ensure sellouts for the next several. instead the team has overpaid a number of guys in relation to their value to the bottom line over the last several years (wallace, boozer, rip, hinrich). they refused to part with a draft pick to get rid of rip hamilton and avoid the luxury tax. these were not strictly business decisions

only a sports franchise that willingly operates at a loss to maximize its chances of winning is one that is not run as a business. i'm not sure that franchise exists

[johnnyvann840]

only a sports franchise that willingly operates at a loss to maximize its chances of winning is one that is not run as a business. i'm not sure that franchise exists

It does in Brooklyn. But, I'm not even sure that will be sustained for very long.

[coldfish]

Compared to basically every other owner of a sports franchise, he is cheap. Its probably because most sports franchises are playthings. The Bulls are one of the few sports organizations that are run like a business.

this is completely false. the nfl and nhl have hard salary caps that almost ensure profits. just about every team spends roughly the same amount on player salaries. mlb is the closest thing to sports capitalism and thus team payrolls vary wildly - due to business considerations

the chicago bulls could field a good team every once in a while and ensure sellouts for the next several. instead the team has overpaid a number of guys in relation to their value to the bottom line over the last several years (wallace, boozer, rip, hinrich). they refused to part with a draft pick to get rid of rip hamilton and avoid the luxury tax. these were not strictly business decisions

only a sports franchise that willingly operates at a loss to maximize its chances of winning is one that is not run as a business. i'm not sure that franchise exists

The NHL and NFL put on hard caps because when given the opportunity, their owners spent money at a furious pace. They are good examples of what I am talking about and representative of your typical sports team owner.

Wallace is a perfect example of their cheapness. They had $16M in capspace. They could have taken on something like $80M in salary. Instead, they gave Wallace a declining contract and sent out Tyson Chandler's remaining $52M in contract obligations for an expiring deal.

[AirP.]

Did Reinsdorf not pay MJ $63 million in a span of two seasons?

And? Did he not pull in tons of money from MJ those years? Maybe a lot of merchandise sales? Profits from all the playoffs the Bulls played in.

Yes... he spends money up to a point, ALL TEAMS DO, especially playoff teams that get playoff money, the one thing that a big market team does have over the smaller markets is the ability to retain talent by dipping into their profits and a number of big market teams do this, maybe badly but they still attempt to acquire and keep talent because they can... AFFORD TO. Chicago could do this also but profits are way more important then going for a championship. Will they pay for a championship team... sure but only when it's nearly guaranteed.

The margin of error is much greater for a large market team because they will still make profits if they screw up, a small market team can't do that, they can't be risky, they can't retain talent because they'll end up in the red, Chicago doesn't have that problem, they'd have to have to bust the luxury tax by what.... 15-20 million before they came close to just breaking even on a non playoff team.. that's a payroll of 85-90 million with the luxury tax kicked in.

[Betta Bulleavit]

I agree with the "cheap" as in run like a business categorization. I just don't agree that it's such a bad thing, especially in the NBA, where reckless spending can sabotage a franchise.

I agree with you 100%. If people consider being financially responsible as cheap due to the fact that we are talking about a sports franchise..then so be it. Cheap (in this particular context) is a very ambiguous term anyway. People almost always view it relative to what other teams are doing. I guess there are just way too many examples of owners spending like crazy only to yield mediocre results and then looking at the fanbase and saying "hey..at least we tried, look how much money we spent". I'd rather have a cheap owner that's smart than a lavish owner that doesn't have a clue.

[Michael Jackson]

Compared to basically every other owner of a sports franchise, he is cheap. Its probably because most sports franchises are playthings. The Bulls are one of the few sports organizations that are run like a business.

this is completely false. the nfl and nhl have hard salary caps that almost ensure profits. just about every team spends roughly the same amount on player salaries. mlb is the closest thing to sports capitalism and thus team payrolls vary wildly - due to business considerations

the chicago bulls could field a good team every once in a while and ensure sellouts for the next several. instead the team has overpaid a number of guys in relation to their value to the bottom line over the last several years (wallace, boozer, rip, hinrich). they refused to part with a draft pick to get rid of rip hamilton and avoid the luxury tax. these were not strictly business decisions

only a sports franchise that willingly operates at a loss to maximize its chances of winning is one that is not run as a business. i'm not sure that franchise exists

The NHL and NFL put on hard caps because when given the opportunity, their owners spent money at a furious pace. They are good examples of what I am talking about and representative of your typical sports team owner.

Wallace is a perfect example of their cheapness. They had $16M in capspace. They could have taken on something like $80M in salary. Instead, they gave Wallace a declining contract and sent out Tyson Chandler's remaining $52M in contract obligations for an expiring deal.

The cap is what Reinsdorf was referring to with his regret this comment. The Jordan contract which everyone knows was well deserved set a new watermark in the NBA that quickly escalated into a new CBA (2 years to be exact).

I actually don't think Prokohov isn't as blind as wonton as he is made out to be, he spends but he thinks he is buying a winner, same with Dolan. They just aren't that smart. Kinda like Jim Buss is looking like a dolt.

I actually heard someone blaming Miami for being cheap hence the contract renegotiations. Omg. It is because of the salary cap plain and simple.

[ChiefILL53]

It's not a myth. He runs the Bulls like a true business and makes more financial business decisions to increase the bottom line than he makes basketball decisions to improve the team at all costs.

Until last year we were what, the only team to never pay the luxury tax? That is borderline impossible unless you mandate it to be so.
He runs a big market team with one of the greatest legacies in the NBA as if it was a small market team.
No one wants the Bulls to operate at a loss but major elite players don't come here, they are rarely if ever itching to come to Chicago when searching for a big market club and until we see the money spent it will continue to be true.

Which is hilarious since he runs the White Sox as if they're a passion.

They are. Everyone knows Jerrys a baseball guy. One of my friends moms is from NY (same as jerry) and she was saying that he was always involved in baseball. There was some field out there that she used to always see him at. So its not surprising

[ryan44]

Compared to basically every other owner of a sports franchise, he is cheap. Its probably because most sports franchises are playthings. The Bulls are one of the few sports organizations that are run like a business.

this is completely false. the nfl and nhl have hard salary caps that almost ensure profits. just about every team spends roughly the same amount on player salaries. mlb is the closest thing to sports capitalism and thus team payrolls vary wildly - due to business considerations

the chicago bulls could field a good team every once in a while and ensure sellouts for the next several. instead the team has overpaid a number of guys in relation to their value to the bottom line over the last several years (wallace, boozer, rip, hinrich). they refused to part with a draft pick to get rid of rip hamilton and avoid the luxury tax. these were not strictly business decisions

only a sports franchise that willingly operates at a loss to maximize its chances of winning is one that is not run as a business. i'm not sure that franchise exists

As far as major U.S. franchises, maybe the Nets. The only sport that I can think of that actually has to account for owners willingly taking loses and skewing the competitive balance is European soccer. Owners of teams like Chelsea, Manchester City, and PSG were recently under investigation for violating UEFA's Financial Fair Play Regulations, basically spending more than they brought in over a period of a few years. Of course, in that case you'd also have to consider that there is no salary cap to begin with, so the rich already have a ridiculous advantage.

[mrlancers]

I'm with B&B on this one. For Bill Simmons to go off on the Reinsdorf tangent was infuriating to me especially when about 100 feet away from him was JAY WILLIAMS, the man who still got paid his contract after his idiotic motorcycle accident that cost him his career after one season. I wish Jay before interviewing James Young for whoever it was just told Bill to go back to Page 2 or something.

He's not cheap. Mark Cuban and Micky Arison basically made financial moves in recent history that were cost-cutting, but I don't see Simmons or other national TV personalities questioning their frugality every time their names are uttered.

[LakerLegend]

He spends money on the White Sox because he loves baseball. He spent on the late 90's Bulls because well, it was kind of common sense since they were the biggest money machine in sports.

Actually, there is a famous quote from him about when he was negotiating one of Jordan's yearly 30+ million dollar contracts in 97 or 98, and how he didn't want to pay it, even though Jordan made the franchise untold amounts of money.

Although "cheap" could be a relative term here. Cheap in the sense that he won't spend up to the cap to field a contender? Probably not. Cheap in the sense that you're the only team in the 3rd biggest market but don't want to go into the luxury tax? Maybe.

[dice]

Compared to basically every other owner of a sports franchise, he is cheap. Its probably because most sports franchises are playthings. The Bulls are one of the few sports organizations that are run like a business.

this is completely false. the nfl and nhl have hard salary caps that almost ensure profits. just about every team spends roughly the same amount on player salaries. mlb is the closest thing to sports capitalism and thus team payrolls vary wildly - due to business considerations

the chicago bulls could field a good team every once in a while and ensure sellouts for the next several. instead the team has overpaid a number of guys in relation to their value to the bottom line over the last several years (wallace, boozer, rip, hinrich). they refused to part with a draft pick to get rid of rip hamilton and avoid the luxury tax. these were not strictly business decisions

only a sports franchise that willingly operates at a loss to maximize its chances of winning is one that is not run as a business. i'm not sure that franchise exists

The NHL and NFL put on hard caps because when given the opportunity, their owners spent money at a furious pace. They are good examples of what I am talking about and representative of your typical sports team owner.

the owners WANTED the hard caps, though. for financial reasons, obviously. because they care a lot about profits. big, juicy profits

Wallace is a perfect example of their cheapness. They had $16M in capspace. They could have taken on something like $80M in salary. Instead, they gave Wallace a declining contract and sent out Tyson Chandler's remaining $52M in contract obligations for an expiring deal.

chandler (who was not very good in chicago, lest we forget) was replaced by wallace in the lineup. and why would they pay wallace more than he agreed to just because they could? the point is, they paid him what nobody else was willing to

as someone else mentioned, reinsdorf gifted jay williams the remainder of his contract. he also gave a 38 year old scottie pippen 10 mil to join a crappy team as a parting gift

[SHO'NUFF]

Did Reinsdorf not pay MJ $63 million in a span of two seasons?

That was after underpaying him for years.

[FecesOfDeath]

Did Reinsdorf not pay MJ $63 million in a span of two seasons?

That was after underpaying him for years.

Whose fault was that? MJ signed on the dotted line, as so did Scottie for his cheap contract. Jerry made up for it in MJ's last two years in Chicago and Scottie's S+T deal to Houston.

[SHO'NUFF]

Did Reinsdorf not pay MJ $63 million in a span of two seasons?

That was after underpaying him for years.

Whose fault was that? MJ signed on the dotted line, as so did Scottie for his cheap contract. Jerry made up for it in MJ's last two years in Chicago and Scottie's S+T deal to Houston.

Who's to say at the time Jordan and his agent didn't try to negotiate for more money? He probably had to threaten Reinsdorf to pay him the big bucks in his final years to make up for the previous contracts. Of course JR was going to pay him whatever he wanted as long as MJ was around making him money. That's business, and with JR it's all about business....unless we're talking about the White Sox.

Correct me if I'm wrong but i remember hearing about Jordan having to tell the Bulls to pay Pippen more at one point.

It'd be nice if he was as big a fan as he was a businessman. In this big market you can afford to do that.

[dumbell78]

Did Reinsdorf not pay MJ $63 million in a span of two seasons?

Yes after bitching and moaning about it and questioning wether or not MJ was worth that money. The same MJ that turned Jerrys team into a billion dollar baby with astronomical profits year in and year out.

The MJ example is not the one to use to proof Jerry isn't cheap.

[coldfish]

this is completely false. the nfl and nhl have hard salary caps that almost ensure profits. just about every team spends roughly the same amount on player salaries. mlb is the closest thing to sports capitalism and thus team payrolls vary wildly - due to business considerations

the chicago bulls could field a good team every once in a while and ensure sellouts for the next several. instead the team has overpaid a number of guys in relation to their value to the bottom line over the last several years (wallace, boozer, rip, hinrich). they refused to part with a draft pick to get rid of rip hamilton and avoid the luxury tax. these were not strictly business decisions

only a sports franchise that willingly operates at a loss to maximize its chances of winning is one that is not run as a business. i'm not sure that franchise exists

The NHL and NFL put on hard caps because when given the opportunity, their owners spent money at a furious pace. They are good examples of what I am talking about and representative of your typical sports team owner.

the owners WANTED the hard caps, though. for financial reasons, obviously. because they care a lot about profits. big, juicy profits

Wallace is a perfect example of their cheapness. They had $16M in capspace. They could have taken on something like $80M in salary. Instead, they gave Wallace a declining contract and sent out Tyson Chandler's remaining $52M in contract obligations for an expiring deal.

chandler (who was not very good in chicago, lest we forget) was replaced by wallace in the lineup. and why would they pay wallace more than he agreed to just because they could? the point is, they paid him what nobody else was willing to

as someone else mentioned, reinsdorf gifted jay williams the remainder of his contract. he also gave a 38 year old scottie pippen 10 mil to join a crappy team as a parting gift

With Chandler, they traded him for an expiring deal and let that expiring contract expire. They were in a position to trade Chandler for people on longer term contracts. People who could have contributed. They didn't, because they didn't want to take on the salary obligation. They saved 10's of millions in total player salary by making the moves they did and structuring Wallace's deal in that manner. Hell, I forget the number, it might have been closer to $100M in player salary saved.

With Pippen, they had the MLE and they spent it on a guy who only wanted 2 years. Back then, MLE deals could be up to 6 years. They *saved money* by giving that MLE to Pippen instead of someone else.

These are all examples of the shell games that the Bulls play to keep total player salaries down. That's why when you look at the historical aggregate, it looks so bad.

[Michael Jackson]

Did Reinsdorf not pay MJ $63 million in a span of two seasons?

Yes after bitching and moaning about it and questioning wether or not MJ was worth that money. The same MJ that turned Jerrys team into a billion dollar baby with astronomical profits year in and year out.

The MJ example is not the one to use to proof Jerry isn't cheap.

He didn't bitch and moan, he said he would regret it, not because he didn't want to pay Jordan, but because he knew it was going to change the landscape of the NBA. The MLB lockout was a big issue to him and he knew the contract Jordan signed would escalate all contracts and force a lockout. Hmmm he was actually right.

[McBulls]

Bulls current ownership has always been cheap, including during the Jordan years.

It's a frustrating fact of life for a Bulls fan. But the subject is admittedly boring.
It would be nice not to have to continuously hope that the Bulls will change, but realistically they won't.

You can hope they sign Carmelo Anthony, but after a lot of operatic posturing, I bet they won't.
They'll hire some mediocre free agent, and save the salary it would have cost to keep Deng.
Actually, come to think of it, they just added a rookie who will be Deng's designated replacement for the next four or five years. They don't need or want Anthony.

Mainly I wish the NBA would bargain hard for a hard cap in the next CBA so discussions could be about basketball rather than accounting tricks and sleight of hand moves to disquise cheapness.

[dumbell78]

Did Reinsdorf not pay MJ $63 million in a span of two seasons?

Yes after bitching and moaning about it and questioning wether or not MJ was worth that money. The same MJ that turned Jerrys team into a billion dollar baby with astronomical profits year in and year out.

The MJ example is not the one to use to proof Jerry isn't cheap.

He didn't bitch and moan, he said he would regret it, not because he didn't want to pay Jordan, but because he knew it was going to change the landscape of the NBA. The MLB lockout was a big issue to him and he knew the contract Jordan signed would escalate all contracts and force a lockout. Hmmm he was actually right.

That's revisionist history, sorry. He flat out told MJ he would regret paying him 30 mil for a year because he felt no player was worth that money, not even GOAT MJ. That MJ short term contract had no bearing on the CBA and Jerry wasn't even thinking about that. He was worried about his bottom line on a year to year basis. It's funny you bring up the CBA when owners continually bitch about costs while they bring in record profits. MJ was making peanuts compared to what he should have made and honoured those deals, giving Jerry a huge pass and turning the Bulls into a billion dollar team. Jerry was having cold feet about finally paying up for a couple years, that's being cheap.

Jerry has used the Bulls as a step child the whole time and even admitted just as much when he appointed his son Michael to run the team since had never paid them that much mind.

[Ice Man]

I agree with the "cheap" as in run like a business categorization. I just don't agree that it's such a bad thing, especially in the NBA, where reckless spending can sabotage a franchise.

But not because the business can't afford it. The sabotage comes from the constraints enforced by the salary cap, which is another matter altogether.