Heat Owner Micky Arison said that the final numbers "aren’t in yet, but his guess is that the team lost money again" this season despite winning the NBA championship, according to Darren Rovell of CNBC.com. Arison said, “This is a hobby of passion, it’s not a business. Every year in the building we’ve lost money aside from last year, under the old Collective Bargaining Agreement, because of LeBron.” Rovell noted the Heat "haven’t ever paid rent" at AmericanAirlines Arena "thanks to loopholes in the agreement with Miami-Dade County including a clause that allows the team to pay itself back for its contributions to the arena’s cost before sharing the wealth." However, Arison said with the league's new CBA, the deal "works against us because of the dollars we had under contract already and the revenue sharing." Arison added, "The reality is we’re not a big market team. Minnesota is a larger market than Miami. Where we find ourselves struggling is our local TV revenue is smaller than big markets and despite sellouts we’re only seventh or eighth in gate revenues. Obviously our payrolls are up and our revenues are not because of the limitations of our market" (CNBC.com, 7/2).
