MORE ON FORBES: CBS SportsLine's Mark Murphy writes
that NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik "admittedly has as
much difficulty as anyone else making sense" of Forbes'
franchise valuations. Granik: "I've met (Forbes officials)
before, and they tried to explain it to me as best they
could. They do the best guess-work that they can. It's
just very difficult to determine, I would think, because a
franchise is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
It's very speculative. These aren't commodities that you
can take down off the shelf and trade." Granik, noting that
Forbes values the Clippers at $103M: "The value they place
on the Clippers, well, they could sell that franchise for
three times that much, we would think" (CBS SportsLine,
12/1). Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford, on the valuations:
"They certainly don't get the figures from the teams, and we
would not have given them that information" (Ral N&O, 12/1).
NOTES: Last night's announced crowd of 11,033 for the
Mavs-Cavs game "was the smallest crowd in the history of
Gund Arena, which opened" in '94 (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM,
12/1)....In NJ, Mark Simon writes that the impact of
Stingrays G Percy "Master P" Miller "is expected to be felt
on attendance throughout" the Int'l Basketball League, as
the IBL is "confident that at least in its early days,
someone like Miller is a needed presence to get attention."
IBL President Thaxter Trafton: "Master P obviously makes an
impression on and off the court. We look forward to
developing a long term partnership among the league, Percy
and No Limit Enterprises." The announced crowd for last
night's Stingrays-Shooting Stars game in Trenton was 3,650
(Trenton TIMES, 12/1)....In K.C., Howard Richman reported
that IHL K.C. Blades Owner Dan DeVos' company, DP Fox
Ventures LLC, has been hired as a business and PR consultant
for Oklahoma City's new AFL franchise that recently moved
from Portland, OR. DeVos previously said that he may move
his IHL Blades to Oklahoma City "because of millions of
dollars in losses [in K.C.], poor attendance and constant
disagreement with the city on how it operates Kemper Arena"
(K.C. STAR, 12/1)....Wild President Tod Leiweke, on the
team's prospects for success: "If we don't reach our
potential, we'll end up looking in the mirror for the
reasons, because Minnesota is ready for an NHL team" (ST.
PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 12/1).
