SPURS ARE DRIPPING RED INK.Byline: Charlotte-Anne Lucas San Antonio Express-News The San Antonio Express-News is the daily newspaper of San Antonio, Texas. It is ranked as the third-largest daily newspaper in the state of Texas in terms of circulation, and is one of the leading news sources of South Texas, with offices in Austin, Brownsville, Laredo, and The San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and are the current NBA Champions after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2007 NBA Finals. expect to post the franchise's first off-the-court loss when the books close June 30 on the 1995-1996 season. All the numbers aren't in yet, but when they are, ``We certainly believe we will have lost money,'' franchise president, chief executive officer and minority owner Jack Diller said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News. The downbeat down·beat n. 1. Music a. The downward stroke made by a conductor to indicate the first beat of a measure. b. The first beat of a measure. 2. Informal A period of stagnation or inactivity. financial news is likely to heighten team owners' arguments that the franchise needs a new, more lucrative venue to stay in business in San Antonio San Antonio (săn ăntō`nēō, əntōn`), city (1990 pop. 935,933), seat of Bexar co., S central Tex., at the source of the San Antonio River; inc. 1837. . Spurs owners repeatedly have said they are not willing to subsidize sub·si·dize tr.v. sub·si·dized, sub·si·diz·ing, sub·si·diz·es 1. To assist or support with a subsidy. 2. To secure the assistance of by granting a subsidy. losses. Diller declined to cite specific numbers until after the Spurs fiscal year ends this month. ``Unfortunately, it was not a surprise,'' Diller said. The franchise has not lost money since it was bought by a group of 22 investors in 1993. Financial records released by the team show it also was profitable before that under the ownership of investor and auto dealer B.J. ``Red'' McCombs. The losses partly were offset by a $9 million expansion fee the Spurs received from the league this season, but still were significant enough that the team had to dip into dip into Verb 1. to draw upon: he dipped into his savings 2. to read passages at random from (a book or journal) Verb 1. its line of credit from bankers. Last March, Diller said revenues from the playoff games were expected to help the franchise break even or make a nominal profit this year. He said that projection was based on the assumption the Spurs would go to at least the third round of the playoffs, which would make up for red ink red ink Health administration A popular term for financial losses. Cf in the Black. amassed during the regular season. In March, Spurs owners expected to be behind as much as $3 million by the end of the regular season. Diller said that while the regular season wasn't quite as bad as expected - the franchise did save some money, thanks to lower interest rates and cutting back on staffing - the playoff season wasn't as good as anticipated, either. The team only went into second round of the post-season matches, playing five home games, compared to eight home games last year. During the playoffs, sagging attendance and sharply lower pay-per-view revenue combined to keep income significantly below last year's post-season tally of $4 million, Diller said. The net result is that the team will end the season with an operating loss operating loss The excess of operating expenses over revenue. As with operating income, operating losses exclude revenues and expenses from operations that are not considered a regular part of the business. Also called deficit. Compare operating income. , he added. Right now, the franchise has drawn down about $2 million on its line of credit from the bank. Because of that borrowing, owners did not have to ante up money to keep the franchise operating. When the books are closed for the season, however, the ledger sheet ledger sheet, n an accounting form for keeping track of debits, expenditures, credits, and charges. will show a positive number, largely because of the $9 million expansion fee distributed to the Spurs by the league. Diller said the team used that money when it came in to pay down its debt. That was done as part of the investors' agreement with lenders that the franchise would apply all surplus money against its loans. Because the expansion fee money was not used to pay for ongoing operations, the Spurs had to begin drawing against the line of credit in late January. Diller said the team expected to be able to continue borrowing against the line of credit and paying it off as revenues come in ``for a little better than a year, into the 1997-98 season, before the team's owners would have to chip in to make ends meet.'' |
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