The Charlotte Bobcats, a professional basketball team, has been offered the opportunity to purchase the contract of an aging superstar basketball player from another team. The general manager of the Bobcats wants to analyze the offer as a capital budgeting problem. The Bobcats would have to pay the other team $800,000 to obtain the superstar. Being somewhat old, the basketball player is expected to be able to play for only four more years. The general manager figures that attendance, and hence revenues, would increase substantially if the Bobcats obtained the superstar. He estimates that incremental returns (additional ticket revenues less the superstar’s salary) would be as follows over the four-year period:
YEAR INCREMENTAL RETURNS
1 .............. $450,000
2 .............. 350,000
3 .............. 275,000
4 ............... 200,000
The general manager has been told by the owners of the team that any capital expenditures must yield at least 12 percent after taxes. The firm’s (marginal) income tax rate is 40 percent. Furthermore, a check of the tax regulations indicates that the team can depreciate the $800,000 initial expenditure over the four-year period.
a. Calculate the internal rate of return and the net present value to determine the desirability of this investment.
b. Should the Bobcats sign the superstar?