Brooklyn Nets beat Mikhail Prokhorov in the ranking of the world's richest clubs on the American version of Forbes "Chelsea" Roman Abramovich and "Arsenal", 30% owned by Alisher Usmanov. Brooklyn Nets took the 24 position with an estimate of $ 1.5 billion, "Chelsea" was on the line 31 (the cost of the club - $ 1.37 billion), "Arsenal" - 36 minutes ($ 1.31 billion).

The Board of Governors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) approved the purchase of 80% of Prokhorov club New Jersey Nets in May 2010. Two years later it was renamed the Brooklyn Nets. Together with the Russian billionaire club has gained the developer Bruce Ratner 45% in the construction of the home arena for the club in Brooklyn - Barclays Center. The stadium was built for a record 2.5 years and inaugurated in the autumn of 2012.

Prokhorov said of Forbes, which today measures its investment in the basketball team at $ 400 million. It turns out that the profitability of the acquisition Brooklyn Nets and its home arena was almost 300%.
Prokhorov calls the assessment team in the $ 1.5 billion excellent indicator.

"When planning the deal, we had hoped that moving the team from New Jerseyand Brooklyn, as well as an aggressive approach to business and basketball teams will give their results. Fortunately, that's what happened, "- the billionaire said.

Sports achievements of his team not so much. In the season 2013/2014, for example, when the salary statement of 15 leading players in the club rose to $ 102 million, more than $ 40 million exceeded the established NBA salary cap, Brooklyn Nets took sixth place in the conference, and in the playoffs was only the first round. Last season, the players wages have fallen to $ 94 million, the club again reached the playoffs but lost in the first round.

"Sportsmanship has little relation to the cost of the club," - said an independent expert Larry Cool Sports. According to him, the growth of the cost of basketball clubs contributed to a contract for the $ 24 billion that the NBA has signed on for 9 years with broadcasters ESPN and TNT at $ 24 billion. Annual income from league television rights increased c $ 930 million to $ 2.5 billion.

Managing Partner of ROI Sports Group estimates the cost of Ray Katz Brooklyn Nets in the $ 1.2-1.5 billion. He agreed that the increase in the cost of the club is associated primarily with the growth of the cost of the rights to broadcast. However, Katzand recognizes the contribution of Prokhorov and his sports managers: «Nets did a great job to increase revenue."

Read more about the basketball project Mikhail Prokhorov read in the August issue of Forbes magazine.