SMB.

Even with all scandals that make many fans think that NBA was in big trouble, a recent article from Forbes shows a different story.

According to their numbers, the value of the typical NBA franchise rose 6% this year, to $372 million, as the Knicks became the first basketball team worth $600 million. NBA teams posted an average profit (in the sense of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $9.8 million, on revenues of $119 million. This is the highest income since Forbes began tracking basketball team finances 10 years ago. This great financial success it's due to steady increase in ticket sales, bigger TV deals and collective bargaining agreement that tightly controls spending on players.

Gate receipts, also known as ticket sales, rose 6% last season to $1.2 billion. They represent the NBA's largest revenue stream (33%); national broadcast are next up at $ 1 billion or 28%. Last season the league set an attendance record with 21.8 million fans.

In addition, two weeks after the Finals, the NBA and ESPN, ABC and TNT announce an eight-year, $ 7.4 billion extension to the agreement set to expire after the 2007-2008 season. It was a record, representing a 21% monetary increase over the current contract.

Another increase in NBA's revenues will come from their two new system for salary cap, the escrow tax and luxury tax. The escrow tax is designed so that teams only spend 57% of league-wide revenues on player salaries. Last season, players contributed 9%, or $177 million, of their $2 billion salary haul to an escrow account. That money is split between owners and players, so total player salaries and benefits are reduced to 57% of league-wide revenue. Last season, owners divvied up $155 million of the escrow account, while $22 million went back to the players. The luxury tax threshold is proving to be much more important than the salary cap number, as teams are loathe to pay the tax. Teams must pay one dollar in tax for every dollar they spend on players over a certain threshold--last season, it was $65.4 million. The tax is a double-whammy in that tax-paying teams are ineligible to receive distributions from the tax revenues collected. Five teams paid the tax last year, with the Knicks leading the way with a $45 million tax bill. The other four taxpaying teams chipped in $10 million.