knows and he says at least that this battle with the nba is not over. yeah, the l.a. clippers owner is suing the league itself now, the nba for $1 billion because of its decision to ban him for life and force him to give up his franchise. so, this is all coming as his estranged wife, shelly sterling agreed to sell the team to steve ballmer for $2 billion. let s talk about it. joining us now vice president of aim sports representation management and rick harrow sports business analyst. good to have both of you. i want to start with you, rick. do you think this team is worth $2 billion? i don t have a monet or a picasso, but i can tell you those are worth whatever people are willing to pay for it. i m amused people putting a value on this or any other franchise. the nba will strike a huge television deal in the next couple of years and the clippers will in the l.a. market. they may rebrand the team, maybe
everything is evolving. kobe bryant was not convicted. ben roethlisberger was not tried. so there are issues there regarding the justice system, which is most important here. roethlisberger 27 years old. he s been suspended. he s going to come back. if the steelers play well i don t think all will be forgotten but he s got to change his behavior as well. bottom line, contracts with corporate america and endorsers. they re shorter and smaller and easier to terminate. that s not because of one athlete or one incident. that is because of the general malaise we have see out there. rick, thank you for joining us. good luck with all your football picks today. big changes how you get the health care. the new reforms kick in this week affecting your coverage and wallet. at the top of the hour we re going to break it down. first another quick quiz about the forbes richest americans. one of these people is tied for the last spot on the forbes 400 list. who is it?
again. four years he s now the starting quarterback of the eagles, number one most disliked list, yet, rick, the jersey is selling like crazy. how does this happen? we re a schizophrenic nation, my friend. that s part of the issue. four years ago, the guy was on top of the world. then the problem with dogfighting. then the contrition, then the repentance. now he s back and he sure can throw the football. it s the same thing with kobe bryant. you remember in 2003 he had major legal issues. he is reviled in some circles, revered in others. and as we said on that graphic, he s also the top nba jersey sales spokesman in china. so people love them. people hate them. but from an endorsement perspective, people certainly are aware of them. well, let s look at the dislike list again. vick, terrell owens, tiger woods, open yoe cinco, kobe bryant and lebron james who took
you know, fans have a really complicated relationship with superstar athletes. a new poll shows you either love them or hate them. here s an example. what they call the q rating, a poll measuring athlete popularity showing the most disliked athletes in america in this order are michael vick, tiger woods, terrell owens, chad ochocinco, kobe bryant and lebron james. but wait a minute. kobe bryant and tiger woods are also tied at number one on the most popular athletes list from harris interactive. get this. the michael vick football jersey is one of the most popular in the nfl right now. for more on the fickle fan base and what it means to an athlete s market bltd bring in sports business analyst rick harrow from west palm beach, florida. i don t get it. michael vick, rise, fall, rise
spectators gather there. and everybody wants to see so they keep getting closer and closer and closer. and you ve got to understand that, you know, the nature of the dust and mechanical issues and spectators and it s very tough to be a course marshal. but they do their best. listen, we appreciate you coming on cnn and talking to us. rich minga is a hollywood stunt man and a former off-road racing champion himself. he came in to talk to us about the accident last night, eight people were killed. thanks, again, rich. you re welcome. tiger woods definitely not at the top of his game. and phil mickelson revealing this week a serious medical condition. is the pga tour in need of star power if these two aren t at the top of the leader board each week? our sports business analyst rick harrow weighs in next. plus this, this little newborn may bring a little luck to her proud new parents. that s because the time and date she was born make her unique. all kids are unique, though. ppppppp