CSKA owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, buys NJ Nets.

MOSCOW — Moscow’s CSKA basketball club was nearly bankrupt when a young banker and metals magnate named Mikhail D. Prokhorov came to the rescue.


After a decade of Prokhorov’s financial tutelage, the club has become one of the best in Europe, winning the European championships twice while reaching the final four in each of the last seven seasons.

Now Prokhorov is hoping to use his rubles to bail out another struggling basketball team, this time in New Jersey. Prokhorov agreed to a $200 million deal this week that would give him ownership of the Nets. He also signed on to underwrite almost half of the team’s proposed $800 million arena in Brooklyn, making him the first person from overseas to acquire such a deep stake in a major American sports team.

source : nytimes.com