# First Black majority owner of a major league sports team **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533 "2002-12-18T12:59:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533/1 "2002-12-18T12:59:46Z")
The NBA is expected to announce today that billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, Robert Johnson, will purchase a basketball team to play in Charlotte after that city sent its Hornets packing. Johnson was in competition with basketball legend, Larry Bird, for ownership of the new team. It is rumored that Johnson might bring his friend, Michael Jordan either into management or into the ownership group or both. Jordan said, “I think Bob’s going to do well. He has the first thing that you need in owning a basketball team, … which is loving the game. And he’s willing to fork over the money to make sure he builds a team solid. He has a great fan base. It’s been proven that you can survive in Charlotte when you’re winning. He’s going to do a great job.” Johnson is not naive. He understands that it’s all about winning. He said, “What’s going to give the edge in marketing is your players and what your team does on the court, no matter who is the head of basketball operations – even if you have Michael Jordan as the head of basketball operations.” Kudos to the NBA, and congratulations to Bob Johnson! ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533/2 "2002-12-18T13:16:43Z")
This reminds me of the Jet Lee film _Romeo Must Die_, where you find out at the end that Delroy Lindo’s character really just wanted to be a part owner of a football team and nobody would let him. I couldn’t believe it was a big deal, and I’m still surprised there aren’t more black owners in sports. 'Course, the guy’s a billionaire, so I don’t think he needs any congrats from the likes of me, the poor and dissolusioned. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533/3 "2002-12-18T13:21:58Z")
The _really_ impressive thing to me is that he beat out Larry Bird. I mean, damn! Larry Bird is to the NBA as John the Beloved is to Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533/4 "2002-12-18T15:48:55Z")
But is Larry Bird worth _billions_? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533/5 "2002-12-18T16:08:47Z")
Well, no. Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533/6 "2002-12-18T17:09:25Z")
Does this mean BET is going to start airing NBA games? Which would probably be an improvement. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-black-majority-owner-of-a-major-league-sports-team/143533/7 "2002-12-18T19:37:53Z")
I just hope it doesn’t mean that Michael is going to try to play again. 😃