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Acquired / episode intelligence

The NBA

30 Sept 2020 57 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

David RosenthalBen Gilbert

Claim mix

belief 36evaluation 6uncertainty 4commitment 4prediction 4observation 2recommendation 1

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Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

57 published records

05 / commitment

The average team valuation has grown a staggering 6X in the last decade, which, talk about an amazing investment return just on its own. Today, we will try and understand all the factors that have made that.

“The average team valuation has grown a staggering 6X in the last decade, which, talk about an amazing investment return just on its own. Today, we will try and understand all the factors that have made that.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

07 / belief

Exactly. That leaves the local TV rights for any given team, which I think there are about a thousand games across all the teams that are not sold as part of the national package—82 games they all play each other.

“Exactly. That leaves the local TV rights for any given team, which I think there are about a thousand games across all the teams that are not sold as part of the national package—82 games they all play each other.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

12 / belief

Not to mention they are the only sports team to responsibly implement a way to play their sport and run their business (I think) profitably during this era, in executing really well on the Disney bubble.

“Not to mention they are the only sports team to responsibly implement a way to play their sport and run their business (I think) profitably during this era, in executing really well on the Disney bubble.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

18 / belief

The AFC, I think that's right. These plucky entrepreneurial guys who started the ABA go around to a bunch of people and a bunch of cities and say, hey, our business plan is we're going to start a rival league to the NBA.

“The AFC, I think that's right. These plucky entrepreneurial guys who started the ABA go around to a bunch of people and a bunch of cities and say, hey, our business plan is we're going to start a rival league to the NBA.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

20 / observation

Over the years, they’ve decided that the way to do that is by creating the most competitive situation possible across the whole league and by doing this really unbelievably large revenue share.

“Over the years, they’ve decided that the way to do that is by creating the most competitive situation possible across the whole league and by doing this really unbelievably large revenue share.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

23 / belief

I'm sure that the Lakers—in terms of ad sales, ticket sales, local TV deals, I think we're starting at this point in time—were able to monetize that at probably equal if not more than what they were paying Wilt.

“I'm sure that the Lakers—in terms of ad sales, ticket sales, local TV deals, I think we're starting at this point in time—were able to monetize that at probably equal if not more than what they were paying Wilt.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

26 / belief

We're going to talk a bunch more about that in a minute. But then, probably most importantly, I think the last element of this is that the current and former NBA athletes have wealth at a level and have become entrepreneurs and business people.

“We're going to talk a bunch more about that in a minute. But then, probably most importantly, I think the last element of this is that the current and former NBA athletes have wealth at a level and have become entrepreneurs and business people.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

31 / belief

Also in 1983, right before Stern took over, they negotiated a new TV deal with ABC that I believe was about $20 million a year in terms of payments for national broadcast rights to the NBA as a whole.

“Also in 1983, right before Stern took over, they negotiated a new TV deal with ABC that I believe was about $20 million a year in terms of payments for national broadcast rights to the NBA as a whole.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

32 / belief

The other big one (I think)—I can’t figure out if this was intentional or not—the NBA franchises have managed to attract a younger and much more tech- and business-savvy group of owners.

“The other big one (I think)—I can’t figure out if this was intentional or not—the NBA franchises have managed to attract a younger and much more tech- and business-savvy group of owners.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

36 / belief

The saddest and the worst example of this was, of course, Len Bias, the hugely, hugely talented college basketball player drafted in the first pick of the 1986 draft, I believe by the Boston Celtics.

“The saddest and the worst example of this was, of course, Len Bias, the hugely, hugely talented college basketball player drafted in the first pick of the 1986 draft, I believe by the Boston Celtics.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

38 / belief

I think that’s what’s interesting about doing this episode. I’ve come to realize, yes, just like with Facebook and social networks and lots of other businesses we cover on this show, the US audience has the NBA monetizes at a much higher rate than the international audience right now.

“I think that’s what’s interesting about doing this episode. I’ve come to realize, yes, just like with Facebook and social networks and lots of other businesses we cover on this show, the US audience has the NBA monetizes at a much higher rate than the international audience right now.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

39 / belief

When Jordan finally retired for the second or third time with the Wizards in 2003—I think when he finally retired for good—there was definitely a bit of a hangover after that, so ratings dropped.

“When Jordan finally retired for the second or third time with the Wizards in 2003—I think when he finally retired for good—there was definitely a bit of a hangover after that, so ratings dropped.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

46 / commitment

What we will talk a little bit about, though, Ben, what you were saying at the top of the show, part of our initial inspiration for doing this was wanting to tell the Jordan Brand story and realizing that that's really totally tied up in the Nike story.

“What we will talk a little bit about, though, Ben, what you were saying at the top of the show, part of our initial inspiration for doing this was wanting to tell the Jordan Brand story and realizing that that's really totally tied up in the Nike story.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

48 / prediction

Because if you look at it this way, there’s an arbitrage opportunity available for the network to go and buy the rights to broadcast something at some price because they feel that they can get more advertising dollars out of those rights than anybody else because of some way that they’re uniquely positioned.

“Because if you look at it this way, there’s an arbitrage opportunity available for the network to go and buy the rights to broadcast something at some price because they feel that they can get more advertising dollars out of those rights than anybody else because of some way that they’re uniquely positioned.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

49 / prediction

And the NFL (of course) still has the highest TV ratings. But this doesn’t matter because the future and younger generations don’t watch TV, aren’t going to consume sports on DIRECTV.

“And the NFL (of course) still has the highest TV ratings. But this doesn’t matter because the future and younger generations don’t watch TV, aren’t going to consume sports on DIRECTV.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

51 / prediction

He didn’t create it, but in 1905—I’m dead serious here—Teddy Roosevelt pressured colleges to create the NCAA to regulate football because too many people were getting hurt and dying playing football.

“He didn’t create it, but in 1905—I’m dead serious here—Teddy Roosevelt pressured colleges to create the NCAA to regulate football because too many people were getting hurt and dying playing football.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

52 / prediction

I think maybe a maximum of eight teams at this point. They just kept it for a single year because whoever—I assumed the Knickerbockers—the teams were in the largest geos basically said, we're not doing this thing.

“I think maybe a maximum of eight teams at this point. They just kept it for a single year because whoever—I assumed the Knickerbockers—the teams were in the largest geos basically said, we're not doing this thing.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

53 / evaluation

Totally, and it wasn't until after the merger, I think that the three-point contest would be added in some of the other stuff around All-Star Weekend, but that was so innovative because it was the first sports entertainment content that wasn't a game.

“Totally, and it wasn't until after the merger, I think that the three-point contest would be added in some of the other stuff around All-Star Weekend, but that was so innovative because it was the first sports entertainment content that wasn't a game.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired

54 / evaluation

Especially because—as we'll get into—while they make astronomical sums in salary from playing more than any other sport in the world, the best of them make at least as much from all of their business outside of the court than they do on the court.

“Especially because—as we'll get into—while they make astronomical sums in salary from playing more than any other sport in the world, the best of them make at least as much from all of their business outside of the court than they do on the court.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NBA
Publisher
Acquired
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