As NBA revenues plummeted amid a time of largely empty arenas, New York Knicks owner Jim Dolan made a case for suspending the league's revenue-sharing requirements for the year. If the Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers weren't profitable in a pandemic year, why should they still be required to pay out of pocket to small markets?
The Knicks and Lakers -- mostly due to massive local television packages -- deliver the largest share of payments to small-market teams. As an ownership planning committee studied the questions of altering the revenue-sharing system for the year, Dolan pushed his case on board of governors conference calls and even cc'd a letter to his 29 peers ahead of Thursday's BOG vote on the issue -- which, sources tell ESPN, included some smaller-market owners siding with Dolan.
Never has Dolan been considered much of a consensus-builder within the league, but he did gather some voting support -- although not nearly enough to overturn the revenue-sharing plan, sources told ESPN.