Sources say Pistons have been borrowing to pay operating expenses; new owner Gores will assume that debt

By Bill Shea
The Detroit Pistons have been losing money and have been borrowing cash to meet operating expenses — debt that will be assumed by new owner Tom Gores, sources familiar with the situation told Crain's.
How much the team has borrowed and how far it is in the red are unknown because those involved have declined to comment.
For some time, the National Basketball Association's team owners have said they are losing money, and the Pistons are said to be among the 19 franchises to borrow from the leaguewide $2.3 billion low-interest credit facility. The league caps borrowing against the facility at $125 million, and most of the teams that have tapped into it are thought to have taken up to the limit.
Additionally, New York-based Citi Private Bank Sports Finance and Advisory was selected last year by current Pistons owner Karen Davidson to broker a sale of the franchise in part because it was willing to subsidize the team's operations.
"We were looking to see if the investment banker would finance the operation of the team," Joseph Aviv, co-managing partner of Bloomfield Hills-based Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, told the trade publication Michigan Lawyer's Weekly this month.


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