The report about Robert Sarver, the owner of the NBA basketball team Phoenix Suns and the first division soccer club Real Mallorca, announced almost two weeks ago, was published on Thursday (November 4th). The US sports TV broadcaster ESPN is raising serious allegations against the Arizona banker. He should be a “have created a toxic working environment and have expressed themselves racist and misogynistic on several occasions”. Sarver denies the allegations. Still, his days in the NBA could be numbered. His future in Mallorca, however, is open. Real Mallorca has no comment so far submitted.
Come on in the ESPN report more than 70 people who worked with Sarver at the Phoenix Suns. Much of the allegation revolves around whether the 60-year-old used the disrespectful N-word to denote African Americans. “You can’t give me any accusations from a racist or misogynist point of view that would surprise me with him,” said a former basketball team manager who was not named. A current employee says: “If the commissioner (roughly the head of the league, editor’s note) would come and investigate the conditions in Phoenix, he would be horrified.”
One of the few interviewees named by name is the former Trainer Earl Watson. He accuses his former boss of using the N word in a one-on-one conversation in October 2016. He then told Sarver that the word was wrong, Watson said. The Phoenix Suns owner then justified himself by saying that the players had used it and he would only quote them.
Sarver reports through his lawyers
Sarver himself has his say in the report on his lawyers. The justifications are however contradictory. First it says: “I have never referred to a person or a group with the N-word. Neither in writing nor orally. I don’t use this word. It’s hideous, gross, and goes against everything I believe in. ”
But later he confesses that he has the floor used once have. “One player used it in the sense that the teammates had to have each other’s backs. I replied, ‘I wouldn’t say N., I would say that we are all in the same boat.”
Treated women as objects
Sarver, who took over the basketball team in 2004 and had little success with the team, is considered a difficult character and a tough employer. “I will pay you a lot of money so that you can endure my quirks,” he is supposed to have said once. In the report, women complain that in his view they do not have the same status as men. In one case, Sarver reportedly told an employee that he “owned” her. He should be open about sex with his wife and towards his employees to brag about his penis size and circulate photos of his wife in underwear. He is also said to have asked the players about their sex lives.
His legal team also consistently denies these allegations. The photos of his wife are said to have been from the team’s latest swimwear collection, which Sarver wanted to introduce to his employees.
Sarver receives support
It is not just critical voices in the ESPN report. According to NBA spokesman Mike Bass it did never an official complaint to the league given about the tone Sarver used towards his employees. “This report is completely outrageous and inaccurate. It in no way describes the Robert Sarver I worked with for 15 years. He is not a racist or a sexist“, will be the incumbent Phoenix Suns President and CEO Jason Rowley.
The NBA did one shortly after the report came out Investigation initiated and hired a law firm to do it. However, an earlier case shows that the future of the American basketball owner is bleak if the allegations are even remotely proven. In 2014, the league has former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling locked for life and sentenced to a maximum fine of 2.5 million US dollars. He had told his ex-girlfriend that she should no longer come to basketball games in the company of African-American people and that she should no longer share selfies with basketball legend Magic Johnson on social networks.
It would be a setback for Real Mallorca
Robert Sarver is on the island since January 2016 active when he and his partners took over Real Mallorca. He is considered to be the head of the US-American owner team, which also includes former tennis professional Andy Kohlberg – now president of the team – and ex-NBA star Steve Nash. Initially, the Americans installed the Swiss Maheta Molango as their right hand. Sarver himself showed up now and then at the games, but mostly stayed in the background and is hardly available for interviews.
The owners are popular with the fans because they are the Chaos left by previous owners eliminated, the club’s debts paid off and the team led to the first division to have. Should the ESPN report also lead to a change of ownership in Mallorca, that would be a big setback for the club.
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