Black Sports Ownership: It's Time

Chris Webber was one of those rare college players who understood the possibility of greatness. As a member of the Fab Five, the legendary University of Michigan freshman class, he showed us that the ability to play such a sport at the highest level demands not only poise in the face of impossible obstacles but grace in the face of well-publicized mistakes.

The Fab Five – Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson – forever changed the game of basketball. The gamble of wearing bald heads, baggy shorts and black socks, only added to the exhilaration and urgency of their mutual adventure. It was all for a cause. The one chance in life for recognized greatness. The opportunity to tell their grandkids about the accomplishments of their youth. Webber took risks, he gave you brashness and bravado – he gave you Detroit.

He made a career of inciting both controversy and amazement, from a recruiting scandal to his infamous time-out-that-wasn’t at Michigan in the 1993 NCAA championship game to an NBA career that was equal parts brilliance and exasperation. It’s only fitting that he now wants to be an NBA owner.

Webber made an estimated $178,230,697 during his 15-year career, and by all accounts has been very smart with his money. As part of The Webber Group, which must have deep pockets, he informed the league office of its wish to purchase majority interest in the Atlanta Hawks, its announcing its intentions Thursday on Twitter. The Hawks became available when their majority owner Bruce Levenson sent an email two years ago accusing the team’s fan base of being “too Black,” amongst other racially insensitive remarks, hypothesizing that many of suburban Atlanta’s white fans would not attend Hawks games because of the team’s largely African-American fan base.

Given the Donald Sterling fiasco, the league was facing a serious public relations nightmare. Consequently, Levison agreed to sell his majority share of the team. Then, reports emerged that general manager Danny Ferry had disparaged then-free agent Luol Deng on a conference call with team owners this past summer, saying Deng was two-faced because he “has a little African in him.” Ferry has since taken an indefinite leave of absence.

Simply put, the NBA needs more black owners. Sterling and Levenson have proven it’s time that the demographics of the league’s ownership – an absolute union of rich white men – more closely resemble those of its player and fan base – 75 percent of NBA players are black, as is 45 percent of the league’s television audience.

In January, Forbes estimated the value of the Hawks at $425 million, the third-lowest in the league. Of the league’s 49 majority owners (spread across 30 teams), Michael Jordan is the only African-American. Keep in mind, Jordan’s estimated net worth reached that $1 billion benchmark because he increased his majority stake in the Bobcats from 80 percent to 89.5 percent. Jordan, Andre “Dr. Dre Young” (due to his stake in Beats Electronics which just sold to Apple for $3 billion) and former BET head Bob Johnson, the former owner of the Bobcats, are not officially on the list of Forbes’ 9 Black billionaires worldwide.

The only African-American on that list is Oprah Winfrey. To put her personal wealth in prespective, for Winfrey to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers, which cost former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer $2 billion, Oprah would’ve had to spend nearly all of her estimated $2.7 billion net worth. Unfortunately, the complex national history of race relations and wealth inequality has led us to this point, where ownership is scarce for African-Americans in sports, despite their contributions to a team’s bottom line.

And even with the societal push for owners to be held more accountable for their ridiculous actions, skyrocketing valuation of teams is making it difficult for anyone but the world’s wealthiest to actually assume control of a team.

History has a wonderful way of righting its wrongs. And as time moves on and more Black men and women attain significant wealth, I have no doubt that we will see more people of color pull together teams of wealthy people, who will become owners more in touch with the racial and economic diversity of their fan base. Sorry to say, it just can’t come fast enough.

Zack Burgess is an award winning journalist, who is the Director/Owner of OFF WOODWARD MEDIA, LLC, where he works as a Writer, Editor and Communications Specialist. Twitter: @zackburgess1

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