he National Basketball Association today awarded its next expansion franchise to Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, making him the first African-American to become the principal owner of a major league sports team.

Mr. Johnson will pay $300 million for the expansion franchise in Charlotte, N.C., which will begin play in the 2004-2005 season.

The price is more than double the $125 million in expansion fees paid by the Vancouver Grizzles and Toronto Raptors in 1994, but league officials were confident in the viability of Mr. Johnson's bid. In 2000, he received $1.5 billion in stock when Viacom Inc. acquired BET Holdings for $3 billion.

Mr. Johnson rounds out an N.B.A. timeline that started in 1950 when Earl Lloyd became the league's first black player, continued in 1966 when the Boston Celtics hired Bill Russell as the first black head coach (while still the starting center) and advanced in 1972 when the Milwaukee Bucks made Wayne Embry the first black general manager.

Although he acknowledged the significance of his selection, Mr. Johnson said it would be foolish to believe that his race was the primary reason he was unanimously selected by the league's expansion committee over a group that included the former Boston Celtics star Larry Bird.

``As an African-American, I believe people should, first of all, be judged on the content of their character, as Dr. Martin Luther King said, not the color of their skin.'' Mr. Johnson, 56, said in a news conference at the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. ``I feel what I brought to the table was my ability and my skill as an individual, my track record in business, my ability to identify talented people to help me build organizations like I've done with BET.''

He added that ``the issue of diversity was important but was in no way the determining factor in the selection of this candidate.''

Jerry Colangelo, the owner of the Phoenix Suns and head of the expansion committee, said that despite the closeness of the bids by Mr. Johnson, and Steve Belkin, a Boston investor who provided the financing for Mr. Bird, Mr. Johnson showed the ``passion and commitment'' the league wanted.

``If you look at his background in terms of businesses he's in and has been in, it fits like a glove,'' Mr. Colangelo said. ``The fact that he's an African-American was a plus. It was a byproduct. He was not awarded this franchise because of that.''

Mr. Bird issued a statement saying that he was ``heartbroken'' at losing the Charlotte bid, and Mr. Belkin told Bloomberg News that he was ``pretty confused'' about the outcome. ``It's a shock, really,'' Mr. Belkin was quoted as saying. ``We had a better team. We were more committed. We had Larry Bird, who was committed to bringing a championship to Charlotte.''

Though he lost out this time, Mr. Bird was given positive signals from Commissioner David Stern that he will someday join the league's ownership ranks. ``The good news there is that I read this morning that Larry said it's his lifelong dream to get back into the N.B.A. and I would say to you that it's my continuing dream to make that lifelong dream come true,'' Mr. Stern said. ``So I think we'll be working across a broad array of potential opportunities to assure that one of the great players has the opportunity to fulfill his dream.''

Mr. Johnson is also hoping to become the first black owner in major league baseball: he is one of three candidates seeking to bring a team to the Washington area. Since selling to Viacom, he has continued as chief executive officer of BET, and has become active in other businesses as well. He owns all of, or part of, a real estate development company; an online lottery company in Latin American countries; restaurants; a nightclub on Walt Disney's Pleasure Island in Orlando, Fla.; a jazz recording company; and a magazine publishing company.

A few African-Americans own or have owned small stakes in N.B.A. teams. Magic Johnson owns 5 percent of the Los Angeles Lakers; Isiah Thomas owned 10 percent of the Toronto Raptors and Michael Jordan previously owned 8 percent of Lincoln Holdings, which owns the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals and the MCI Center. He relinquished that share when he left the Wizards' executive suite last season to play again.

Two other African-Americans, Peter Bynoe and Bertram Lee, owned about one-third of the Denver Nuggets and were the general partners.

Mr. Johnson expects to sell 25 percent to 30 percent of the team to local investors.

Clifford Alexander, a consultant who has monitored baseball's equal opportunity hiring practices, played down the symbolism of Mr. Johnson's purchase of the Charlotte team.

He said the number of minority businesspeople capable of owning a major sports team is so small that Mr. Johnson's achievement does not necessarily throw open the doors to similar success stories.

``How many blacks have $300 million?'' asked Mr. Alexander a former secretary of the Army. ``It's a rarity, one of a kind. But there are thousands of white people like that. Make no mistake, I'm happy for Bob, and it's good for him, but not for many other people.''

He said the more important focus should not be on minority ownership, but on the hiring of minorities in the front offices of sports teams and leagues.

And, he added, ``There is a disconnect between black business ownership and black hiring. But do black people have more knowledge where to find skilled black people? Sure.''

Mr. Johnson said he had a short list of executives he wanted to interview about running the Charlotte team, but did not intend to favor an African-American. One former N.B.A. executive, Ed Tapscott, is a friend of Mr. Johnson.

``I'm going to select the best candidate for the job: red, yellow, black or white,'' he said.

Mr. Johnson's purchase of the unnamed Charlotte team, which will start play in the 2004-05 season, is pending approval of the N.B.A.'s board of governors next month.

The team will replace the Hornets, which moved to New Orleans this season after several years of falling attendance at the Charlotte Coliseum and widespread fan discontent over one of the team's owners, George Shinn.

Mr. Johnson has been working for several years to get into the N.B.A., inquiring about buying several teams. ``Believe me, owning an N.B.A. franchise is a dream,'' he said. Since he began BET more than 20 years ago, he has regularly asked David Stern, the league's commissioner, `David, when am I going to get a team? When am I going to get a team?'''

Primarily, he has sought the Hornets, first trying to buy a small stake, and then trying to acquire them to obviate their move to New Orleans. He is on the board of US Airways, which has a major hub in Charlotte; he also tried, unsuccessfully, to start a new airline, D.C. Air, which would have had a major presence in Charlotte.

In approaching the purchase of the expansion team, Mr. Johnson told the league, ``I don't mind being in a beauty contest, but I don't want to be in an auction,'' according to Russ Granik, the league's deputy commissioner. Mr. Johnson, in essence, did not mind being compared to the Bird-Belkin group, but would not get into a financial bidding war.

Ultimately, Mr. Johnson said, ``It's nice to know you're the prettier guy.''

With the Hornets gone, the city of Charlotte is proceeding with plans to build a $250 million to $260 million downtown arena to be financed mainly through a hotel-motel tax, $25 million from Mr. Johnson and $75 million from corporation investment in naming rights and luxury suites. Mr. Johnson will also be responsible for any of the arena's operating losses when it opens, as planned, in 2005.

The arena deal, Stern said, ``could not be brought together under the prior ownership group.''

Mr. Johnson was born in Hickory, Miss., the ninth of 10 children, and moved in the early 1950's to the river city of Freeport, Ill. Mr. Johnson's friend, the former Pittsburgh Steeler and Dallas Cowboy Preston Pearson, recalls a childhood spent playing baseball, basketball and football.

They played together at the East End Recreation Center, where Mr. Pearson said, ``basketball was Bob's best sport,'' Mr. Pearson said. ``He was better than average. But once he got to high school, he stopped growing. He was smallish. Other guys grew and got better.''

Mr. Johnson was on his high school's track and basketball teams, but Mr. Pearson said, ``he was more the academic type, more looking at things outside sports while we were looking mainly at sports.''

Mr. Johnson, a year younger than his friend, followed Mr. Pearson to the University of Illinois, where they belonged to the same all-black fraternity. Mr. Johnson subsequently received a master's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Before creating BET in 1980, he worked at the Washington Urban League, the National Cable Television Association and as the press secretary to Walter Fauntroy, the Congressional delegate from the District of Columbia.

``I am very happy for Bob,'' Mr. Pearson said. ``The people of Freeport should throw him a parade or name a street for him.''