First, a nod to Sportico for a catch that seems like it should be a bigger deal. After the latest round of debt sale, most recently of $193 million, the NBA is now $6.7 billion in debt overall. It’s far from the only league to borrow heavily right now, but the NBA’s debt-to-annual-revenue burden is more so than the other major sports. Joe Pompliano’s Huddle Up newsletter helpfully breaks it down like so:
NFL Debt-To-Annual Revenue: About 1.5xMLB Debt-To-Annual Revenue: About 2xNBA Debt-To-Annual Revenue: About 3x
This isn’t to say the NBA is overleveraged and at great risk; I don’t know how to make that kind of call absent a firm grounding in finance and firmer grounding in owning a crystal ball. It is to say the NBA was likely hit harder by COVID-19 on account of being an indoor sport.
