Miami-Dade Inspector General Chris Mazzella has “launched an audit of the Miami Heat’s profit-sharing contract with the county, which has not received any money from the NBA team" despite record revenues of $60M in the LeBron James era, according to Jay Weaver of the MIAMI HERALD. Mazzella on Friday said that he is “trying to determine whether any profits generated by the Heat should have been shared with the county under a joint agreement to build” the AmericanArirlines Arena for $213M on Biscayne Bay. Mazzella said, “This particular contract had not been audited and we decided to take a look at it.” He noted that the audit “should be completed in the next month or two.” The deal required that the team “give the county 40 percent of all profits in excess of $14 million -- a figure that the basketball franchise has never reported reaching since playing there in 2000.” The Heat’s financial statements for last year’s near-championship season note the team “generated revenues of $60 million.” Revenues “jumped $15 million” with James joining F Chris Bosh and G Dwyane Wade. But while the team “generated profits of $13.2 million last year, those earnings fell just short of the profit-sharing threshold with the county” (MIAMI HERALD, 3/31).
