Detroit black business group blasts NBA, Pistons
A group of local African-American business professionals is threatening to boycott the Detroit Pistons and NBA unless its concerns about what members call “the economic exclusion of people of color beyond the court” are addressed.
The Detroit Association of Black Organizations Inc. is calling for a “Bust the Ball” campaign aimed at urging fans not to spend money on tickets and merchandise as well as to put pressure on the league and team officials. Its CEO Rev. Horace Sheffield III said he still hopes to meet with officials before doing so, but “if that doesn’t happen, we’ll continue to put pressure on them.”
The Pistons’ vice chairman has “communicated an understanding and pledge to move forward in a productive and positive manner while continuing to serve our community,” representatives said this week.
Sheffield, who leads New Destiny Christian Fellowship Church in Detroit, said he hasn’t received a response to the letter to NBA and Pistons officials outlining his group’s concerns regarding the practice they label “green-lining.” That prompted a follow-up this week.
Association members still have “on-going dissatisfaction with the economic injustice that we feel that the African-American community suffers as a result of the economic exploitation of both the African American NBA players and the African American payers (ticket purchasers, product purchasers and others who spend money to buttress the bottom line of the NBA and most particularly the Detroit Pistons),” the minister wrote in a letter to the league on Wednesday.
That letter warned: “Consequently, I am writing to you inform you that we intend to launch a national ‘BUST THE BALL’ National Don’t Spend with the NBA Campaign against the Detroit Pistons and the NBA.”
The issue is also expected to be raised at the association’s regional meeting in Detroit next Thursday with representatives from more than 30 black groups.
In a letter to Arn Tellem, Palace Sports & Entertainment vice chairman, Sheffield wrote that it’s “reprehensible that a team, and indeed a league, whose bottom line is based on Black players refuses to share any green with the same people of color beyond its players. For over 15 years I was a season ticket holder with the Pistons, purchasing suites, and supporting over activities and concerts there but I decided to discontinue the same inasmuch as I began to feel as is a new system of economic exploitation existed in the NBA and with the Pistons.”
NBA representatives did not immediately respond to phone or email requests for comment Thursday.
Responding to the business association’s claims, Pistons officials told The Detroit News: “Our organization works hard to be an asset for everyone in Detroit and the metro region. In the last year alone, we have been heavily involved in the Detroit community by forging and continuing ongoing partnerships that will impact lives and opportunities for those in the city.”
Sheffield maintains that the league and team haven’t contacted him. If nothing arrives by the time his group gathers Thursday, the minister said, “we’re going to approach them” about meeting, then decide the next step.
While a particular instance didn’t spur him to speak out, Sheffield said working to address the sports institutions’ alleged practices is “extremely important” for black businesses and other supporters in Metro Detroit.
“There’s a … significant number of African-Americans who are responsible for generating the revenue,” he said. “We feel we should also be considered in how the revenue is spent since we generate it.”