More than four months after Israel's premier basketball team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, took on the Los Angeles Lakers at L.A.'s Great Western Forum (and lost), some members of the city's Israeli emigre community are conducting a financial post-mortem of the benefit event. According to figures released this month by the local Israeli organizers, only 32 percent of the $ 728,000 in revenues (about $ 243,000) ever reached the Maccabi sports clubs in Israel. The remaining fundsderiving from ticket sales, a hugely oversold dinner and hefty contributions from Meshulam Riklis ($ 100,000), Jordache Jeans, L.A. Gear, Pepsi-Cola (no longer adhering to the Arab economic embargo), the Milken Family Foundations, animator Haim ("Maya the Bee") Saban, Guess Jeans and Discount Bankwere swallowed up by overhead. Expenses included a 10 percent slice of the entire gross for a local public-relations firm; $ 35,000 for pre-, mid- and post-game entertainment; $ 34,000 to fly the Israeli hoopsters in via TWA (irking an ailing EL Al) and assorted meals. When rumors of organizational ills reached the desk of Ronit Hayut, publisher of the local Hebrew weekly Hadashot L.A., she set in motion a no-holds-barred investigation. The findings, she says, show that the Israeli community appears to be a quick study when it comes to generating overhead. Jeff Fink, a local businessman who headed the organizing committee, told Hadashot L.A. that it was a considerable feat to salvage even 40 percent of the overall take from such charity events. But Eli Marmur, president of the Maccabi organization's L.A. chapter, said the experience has left a bitter aftertaste.
"If after the great effort that was invested, only some $ 240,000 found its way to Maccabi, that is disappointing. The truth is that the organizing committee, which had 17 people, me among them, had no clout when it came to decisions. We didn't know where the money was going."