SBC News Adam Silver backs '1% integrity fee' as NBA's intellectual property protection

Adam Silver backs ‘1% integrity fee’ as NBA’s intellectual property protection

ESPN Sports Business Analyst Darren Rovell has published a brief transcript taken from a media Q&A with NBA Chief Commissioner Adam Silver during the league’s union address.

Commissioner Silver was asked for clarity on the 1% fee which NBA league executives are reported to want to implement, should licensed sports betting be legalised by the US Supreme Court of Justice.

Silver responds by backing a ‘1% integrity fee’, protecting the NBA’s intellectual property value, which the commissioner deems a fair price for betting on NBA content.

“From the NBA’s standpoint, we will spend this year roughly $7.5 billion creating this content, creating these games. This notion that as the intellectual property creators that we should receive a one percent fee seems very fair to me.”

Backing the 1% fee on sports betting handle, Silver points to foreign jurisdictions that have used the NBA’s potential model to compensate sports stakeholders.

To date, Silver has been one of the highest profile advocates for US sports betting, stating numerous times that PASPA laws needed to be rescinded in order to protect modern sports fans and that the NBA would back licensed sports betting framework.

However, the NBA’s 1% integrity fee has received a negative reaction from pro-US betting stakeholders, which have deemed the NBA to be simply seeking a large slice of betting revenues.

Legal Sports Report’s Dustin Gouker, stated that Commissioner Silver had made a mess of the NBA’s former stance by backing the 1% fee as an imposed royalty charge.

“The NBA crafted the “integrity fee” because it was the nicest sounding way of saying “We want money.” Cutting the leagues in for creating content is a much tougher sell in states around the country that are hoping to make money for their own coffers”.

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