Less this year than the year before, according to Forbes magazine.

Its financial analysis of NBA franchises finds that the Bobcats are worth $277 million, or eight percent less than what Bob Johnson paid for the franchise. The mag further reports that Johnson made a $30 million capital call on his Charlotte-area business partners last year. (No wonder Felix Sabates wanted to unload his piece of the Cats on a charity.)

Most ominous is that by Forbes’ account, the Bobcats were the only NBA franchise to decline in value last year. Were it not for the Bobcats’ rock-bottom player payroll of $37 million, the small operating income of $11 million would have been wiped out as well.

George Shinn’s New Orleans Hornets have the next lowest payroll at $45 million. The norm for the league is in the $55-60 million range. With Bobcat revenue coming in $89 million it is easy to see that Johnson is going to have to risk spending even more of his own money to upgrade the payroll if he wants to see significant improvement on the court.

All the NASCAR marketing tie-ins the Bobcat braintrust can come up with is not going to fix that.