Did the Pistons' CEO Accidentally Make a Pre-Lockout Revelation of 'the Books'?

Pistons CEO and President Alan Ostfield went on-air with Piston broadcasters Greg Kelser and George Blaha during the second quarter of Friday's Bucks-Pistons game to announce that a deal was reached to sell the Pistons to Tom Gores.  In addition to a confirmation of the pact, the Pistons' chief executive offered a surprising candid assessment of the inner workings of the deal and the financial situation surrounding the organization.  According to Ostfield,

Karen Davidson and Tom Gores today signed a tentative agreement and now they're going to dot a few more i's and cross a few more t's, get the Board of Governors approval at the right time and, um, hopefully that will all happen in an expeditious manner. 

Later, Kelser probed with a question asking for reasons why the sale didn't "happen much sooner than now".  Ostfield responded,

It's something ownership was handling, so for the most part, we were just staying out of it and they were leaving us to run the business, and, uh, that was all going along fine.  We got involved in meeting the buyers and making presentations to them and there's a natural level of anxiety.  You can't help that.  We're all human.  As much as you try to put it behind you, you realize that you're talking about people you care about and an organization that you care deeply about.  So the people here we're absolutely committed to the greater good, committed to one another, committed to the Davidson legacy, and that really carried us through.

After a TV timeout, the broadcast came back to a second segment with Ostfield.  The team's CEO went on to note:

They (the fans) really are special and, you know, even in this kind of year when the team has underperformed to that which the fans are used to, people that are out here, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen thousand a night, they're having a great time.  They're watching great athletes.  They're having a time with their friends, or good times with their kids.  We try real hard to have a good time, regardless of the wins and losses.

The most telling part of the interview came right at the end of the segment, when Blaha added that there were pieces in the sale beyond just the Pistons team.

Blaha:  You know the changes here don't just include ownership the Pistons, we're talking about DTE Energy Music Theatre, this gorgeous building, The Palace, and the rights to operate the Meadowbrook Theatre, so there are a lot of moving pieces when it comes to Palace Sports and Entertainment, aren't there?

Ostfield:  Yeah, there sure are, and I think the amazing thing about our business is that even with the Pistons struggles this year, business has been fine.  You know, attendance is off a little bit from what it was last year, but you'd expect that with a team that's underperforming.  On the entertainment and the vending side that you're talking about, George, business is actually up.  We're going to make more money this year than we did last year, so I think that, from my perspective, Tom Gores is buying this at the right time -- because the Pistons are going to rebound they way they did before, and the entertainment side is still doing strong.

It's tough to separate the Pistons from the other branches of the corporation in that statement, but regardless of the breakdown, it sounds like the Pistons are scarcely headed for the poor house.  I know that Ostfield was trying to portray the business viability in a positive light, but in the last handful of regular-season Pistons games before the lockout, I'm sure the last thing that the Association's higher-ups (e.g., Stern) want to see on their broadcasts is a CEO crying, "We're making money, we're making money!"