How the NBA’s minnows rose to the highest | Invesloan.com

Scoreboard turned five this week, and we’ve been doing a quick spot the difference with our first edition. Back then, the conversation was about when sport might return — lockdown meant most live action had been suspended worldwide.

Now it’s about when sport might take a breather. It’s less than a week since Paris Saint-Germain brought the curtain down on the European football season with its Champions League triumph in Munich. Yet it’s also just a week until the Fifa Club World Cup (now brought to you in partnership with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund) kicks off in Miami. How many will tune in, or turn up?

Plenty of other things haven’t changed that much. Superstar athletes — we pinpointed Roger Federer and Serena Williams in our first edition — are increasingly embracing their role as investors. Meanwhile, Manchester City is still defending itself against allegations of financial wrongdoing (back then it was against European governing body Uefa).

Looking ahead, what will the business of sport look like in five years? Will City’s battle with the Premier League be resolved by then? And were we right to stop bolding every proper noun? Let us know by emailing scoreboard@ft.com

This week, we bring you more on the money behind the NBA Finals and a Q&A with the US billionaire backing soccer in America. Do read on — Samuel Agini, sports business correspondent

The NBA’s parity era: when minnows conquer

Former NBA commissioner David Stern once said that the league’s dream final was the “[Los Angeles] Lakers vs Lakers” — a (half) joke that reinforced the perception that the league prefers when its most recognisable franchises make it to the biggest stage.

But this year’s match-up between two small-market teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, is no disaster for the NBA. Instead, it points to the league’s success at building a level playing field among its 30 franchises.

The 2025 Finals will crown a different champion for the seventh consecutive season. The German football league, which has been won 12 times in 13 years by the same club, might well look on with envy. France, England and Spain are not much better.

The NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which began in 2023, includes measures to rein in the big-spending teams who have blown past the league’s “soft” salary cap. The “softness” allows franchises to exceed the limit through various exceptions, while paying a so-called luxury tax.

The game-changer is the controversial “second apron”, a higher financial threshold with tighter rules designed to make it harder to create superteams and dynasties. Those who spend above the second apron, set at roughly $189mn this season, are hit with restrictions that severely limit their ability to add talent — whether through trades with other teams, free agents or the draft.

The CBA also introduced salary cap “smoothing” to prevent large annual increases to the cap that could destabilise the free-agency market. This infamously happened in 2016 when the cap surged 34 per cent after the league agreed a $24bn media rights deal. That allowed a loaded Golden State Warriors squad to sign superstar Kevin Durant — and win another championship.

Neither the Thunder nor the Pacers are above the second apron. In fact, both teams’ payrolls are below the current luxury tax threshold of $171mn — a rarity among recent NBA champions.

The Thunder in particular are loaded with younger, cheaper talent, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 26-year-old Canadian who was just crowned league MVP. But the bill will come due, starting with Gilgeous-Alexander, who is eligible this summer for a “supermax” contract extension that would be worth $293mn over four years.

The NBA’s reigning champions, the Boston Celtics, are a cautionary tale. They built a roster around homegrown stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who were eventually rewarded with record-breaking, multiyear contracts worth $314mn and $304mn, respectively.

But the team is about $20mn above the second apron, according to data website Spotrac. The Celtics’ governor Wyc Grousbeck — who recently led a sale of the team for a record $6.1bn — has said the roster is unsustainable. That has fuelled expectations that Boston will trade key players from their championship team this summer.

The harsh reality of the CBA raises the question of whether parity will create new problems for the NBA. TV viewership will probably decline for this year’s Finals. But for a league that struck an 11-year, $77bn media rights deal last year, this will probably be of lesser concern.  

Q&A: The Atlanta tycoon hosting the World Cup

Arthur Blank made his fortune with Home Depot. Success led him from do-it-yourself retail to sport. The billionaire owns the Atlanta Falcons NFL franchise, valued at $5.9bn by Sportico last year, and the $1bn Atlanta United in Major League Soccer. AMB Sports and Entertainment, part of the Blank family of businesses, also owns the 75,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is one of the host venues for Fifa’s Club World Cup this month and the World Cup next year.

Scoreboard caught up with Blank to talk soccer, the World Cup and sport. The transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Can the World Cup have a bigger impact on American soccer than when the US hosted the competition in 1994?

Arthur Blank: Yeah, I think so. The interest in the sport continues to grow. Apple [the broadcast partner] certainly has the exposure domestically but also very much on a worldwide basis. I think we’re moving in the right direction. We [the MLS] have a great commissioner, a very strong group of committed owners, and I feel like we’re in a good place.

What does soccer mean to you and how will your $50mn donation to US Soccer help the game and MLS?

AB: One of the reasons that I love soccer, and it may be the most significant reason I love soccer, is that what I’ve seen is that the community rallying that takes place around the game is really incredible. You see it in our stadium. My middle son has played soccer since he was five years old. Maybe what makes it the beautiful game, if you will, is that it brings such diverse populations together and a true sense of enjoying what’s on the pitch and enjoying being together.

Having this national training centre . . . with an emphasis on coaching and player quality, I think all those things will keep our younger players here. It’s not going to happen overnight, but directionally it’s moving in that way. That’s another element of why we’ll continue to improve the quality of the play that we’ll see throughout Major League Soccer.

Can MLS ever rival the Premier League?

AB: The Premier League is obviously the number one league in the world. I think MLS will continue to make the investments — by the league, by ownership — make the right decisions and continue to see the quality of the play grow.

The NFL is expanding internationally. Soccer is booming at home. Where do you see it going?

AB: Thomas Friedman wrote The World Is Flat. Although maybe currently you could argue politically we’re not acting that way, beyond that I would say the world is flat.

From an NFL standpoint, we look at the opportunity to continue to grow American football throughout the world. The acceptance we’ve seen . . . has been incredible.

I think soccer in America will continue to grow as well. We will probably host 25, maybe 30 soccer matches in our stadium this year, the majority of which are Atlanta United but many of which are international. We’re going to host the Club World Cup shortly and we have the World Cup that’s coming here in ’26. You’re seeing soccer at the highest level. That exposure continues to put pressure on Major League Soccer to increase the quality of the play that we see.

You can read more here.

Highlights

• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has signed up to be a sponsor of Fifa’s Club World Cup, just a week before the new tournament kicks off in Miami. Aramco, the country’s oil producer, is already Fifa’s biggest commercial partner.

• The English Football League has charged Sheffield Wednesday and its Thai owner Dejphon Chansiri after the Championship club failed to pay wages in May.

• The UK government threatened legal action against Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich as it seeks to release the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC to help fund charitable causes in Ukraine.

• Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Peyton Manning has taken a stake in the Denver National Women’s Soccer League franchise. The two-time Super Bowl champion joins an ownership group that includes IMA Financial chief Rob Cohen and Ariel Investments’ Project Level, among others.

• Joe Mansueto is the founder of financial data company Morningstar. He also owns The Chicago Fire soccer team. He’s spending big money on a new stadium for the Major League Soccer side.

Transfer Market

• Tottenham Hotspur board member Donna-Maria Cullen stepped down after three decades at the north London club. Cullen was a close ally of Spurs chair Daniel Levy, who credited her with helping the club move to its £1bn, 62,850-capacity stadium. It’s the latest major leadership change at Spurs, following the appointment of former Arsenal boss Vinai Venkatesham as chief executive.

• Aston Villa, the Premier League team owned by Nassef Sawiris and Wes Eden, hired Francesco Calvo from Juventus as its new president of business operations. He replaces Chris Heck, who’s heading to Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Final Wicket

England’s cricketers were meant to be at the Oval for a match against the West Indies, but the traffic was pretty bad. The only option was to hop off the bus and take an alternative mode of transport.

Check it out!