It’s just a game! At least, that is what I keep telling myself, in a cadence similar to the one Dorothy used when she intoned, the familiar, “There's No place like home,” in “The Wizard of Oz.” You remember, the magical incantation given to her by Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. She repeated the phrase until she was miraculously transported from the Emerald City and the harrowing series of calamities she experienced in the Land of Oz, back to the bucolic tranquility of her native
Oh how I wish it were that simple. I would like very much to be magically, instantly, extricated from the morass National Basketball Association(NBA) Commissioner David Stern has termed “The Nuclear Winter of the NBA.” In case the NBA is simply not your thing, or in the event, you’ve just managed to miss the latest development in labor strife, professional sports style, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the players’
It is clear Commissioner Stern is fed up with the players’ aversion to acceptance of the League’s/owners’ latest offer. He has framed the players’ dissent in the most condescending light, repeatedly. Jumping straight to the where are we now point of the story, negotiations failed to result in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the players have disclaimed the
On March 16, 2011, exactly eight months ago, I wrote the following two paragraphs in a post entitled, “America’sGame: Locked & Loaded:”
- The 2011 Super Bowl; in the vault, this year’s Pro Bowl; history; the National Football League (NFL) Draft, source for new talent; right around the corner, yet, for now, the topic uppermost on the minds of football fans across the nation and around the world is “The Lockout.” While college Basketball owns the rights to the term March Madness, Trademarked, I’m sure, NFL owners and players may want to at least borrow the moniker until they can resolve their current impasse. Talk about killing the goose that laid the golden egg, nothing screams insanity more than a work stoppage in America’s Game.
- In summary, this is a clash of Titans. The interests, investment, and enjoyment of fans appear to be secondary considerations…if that high. Fans should take stock; not just fans of the grid iron. It is worth noting that 2011 has the potential to be the year of the CBA Triple Crown, as the Agreements for Basketball and Baseball also expire this year. You may want to consider installing seat belts on your couch; it could be a bumpy sports year.
Those sentiments were the opening and closing statements regarding what was at that time, the very contentious labor discord between the National Football League (NFL), and its players’ Union , the Nation Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA). The two sides were locked in often strident debate over crafting and agreeing upon terms for a new CBA. As you can see, even then, it was evident the NBA was headed down a similar path as the one the NFL was on that time. That was then. Now, to my chagrin, the NBA and its players have upped the ante…significantly. This latest gambit calls into direct question whether there will be a 2011-12 Season.
So what are the particulars; what exactly are these very wealthy men arguing about? The short answer is, as it is always in situations such as this, money…and lots of it!
The CBA is the framework the owners and players agree to, for a specified amount of time, to govern and enforce the terms and conditions of the working relationship between the two parties. The most recent agreement expired June 30th, shortly after the season ended. The owners invoked a Lockout on July 1st.
When reduced to its essence, there are three key points around which the debate, and the inability to reach consensus revolve:
1. Revenue Sharing – There are probably no questions more basic than how big is the pie, and who gets how much of it. In the NBA this has taken on added importance because unlike the NFL, the NBA does not have revenue sharing. Stick a pin in that point. I’ll come back to it later. The Commissioner has stated most (up to 22 of the League’s 30 teams) are expected to lose money this year. By implication it is suggested that there is a hierarchy of loss weighted toward small market teams, since they do not generally have the benefit of lucrative TV viewing areas; certainly not on the same scale as large market teams. For clarification, part of what makes the specifics speculative is that the owners have not opened their books to the players. That is the owners right, of course. Alternately, the players’ resulting position that this is the owners’ problem is therefore understandable. The premise of “Good Faith” is hanging by a tenuous thread, if in fact it exists at all at this point.
2. Salary Cap – No revenue sharing; no problem (for some owners). The owners are proposing to scuttle the soft salary cap, used in recent CBA’s, in favor of a hard salary cap. The soft cap results in the issuance of fines to teams that exceed the cap by a certain amount; the proceeds from those fines are then shared with teams that did not exceed the cap. A hard cap would limit all teams to the cap; no exceptions. This would mean, if you want to keep “Player A” on the roster, but there is not enough cap space; you may have to select a player to trade or cut from the roster. No surprisingly, players oppose this idea. Owners would also like to impose limits on the size and length of contracts, to hedge against stars that flame out, or that age more quickly than anticipated by the team. The players view this as owners seeking indemnification against their own bad business decisions.
3. Basketball Related Income (ticket sales, TV contracts, concessions, etc.) – This is really the heart of the matter. In the recently expired agreement, the split was 57% (players)/43% (owners). At the outset of negotiations, players agreed to accept a 53-47 split; a figure which they subsequently dropped to 52.5-47.5. The owners have uniformly and consistently insisted on a 50-50 split. Their most recent offer was for a 50-50 split, and a 72-game (10 games less than the League’s 82-game norm) season, starting December 15th. The players declined, which brings us to where we are now.
From the advent of the Lockout on July 1, until the players decided to disclaim their Union, Derek Fisher, President of the Players Union, and a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Billy Hunter, Executive Director of the Union led the players’ side of the negotiations. But upon disbanding the
In an interesting turn-about and twist of fate and circumstances, Mr. Kessler represented the NFL Players’ Association, and in doing so, matched legal wits with Mr. Boles, who represented the NFL. While the outcome of this current legal drama is uncertain, what is clear is that the players are employing men who have some of the most recent and relevant experience in these matters.
As an admitted dyed-in-the-wool fan of the game, I admit to having absolutely zero objectivity on this matter. From my all too-close-to-the-subject vantage point, both the Commissioner/owners, and the players/union, are acting irrationally.
By all appearances this course of action can only serve to harm the game, and push erstwhile rabid fans to seek other forms of entertainment, and of course, places to spend their entertainment budget. In the end, this surely means owners will generate less revenue, players will earn less in salaries, TV will have fewer games to air, concessionaires will sell less product, and last, but in a perfect world, most important, the fans will be left to pay more, while getting less entertainment for the dollars they (we) spend.
As a passing observation, the League business model may pose the biggest imposition to providing a framework for resolving the differences between the owners and players. I am not an economist; a fact several of my friends who are remind me of, regularly. Still, the crux of the matter, as I see it, is that NBA owners do not have revenue sharing. Without it, the problem of inequality between the so-called small market teams and the large franchises is insoluble.
Moreover, this quandary is a seemingly irresolvable debate between the owners themselves, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the players. The bottom line on this score is teams like the Lakers (my favorite) and the Knicks, for example, have no interest in, and even less incentive to share revenue with the likes of the Nuggets and Trailblazers, for example. While such a scheme would help bridge the revenue imbalance from which the small market teams suffer, thus potentially increasing their competitiveness, it would at the same time reduce the value and profitability of the large market teams.
So in the end, it is clear (to me, anyway) the owners have quite naturally chosen to "kick the can down the road" on the real problem, while simultaneously attempting to extract another pound of flesh fromthe players, rather than an additional ounce from their own coffers. But really, as a fan, I have no interest in assigning blame. This is just the story of “Hoop Jones Part Two: To Hoop or Not To Hoop!”
By the way, hang in there, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) CBA expires December 11th. However, in a breath of fresh air, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association(MLBPA) are rumored to be close to signing a new CBA, and are expected to do so prior to the deadline. The temptation is to say the principals have been watching the antics of the NFL and the NBA, but the truth is they reached their last agreement in 2006 without rancor. The new agreement is expected to extend play for another five years.
I’m done: holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2011/03/americas-game-locked-loaded.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMS7twjiTlY
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/nov/15/nba-lockout-pay-deal-explained?newsfeed=true
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Fisher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Hunter_(American_football)
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/15/2504133/nba-cancels-all-games-through.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_L._Kessler
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/nba-lockout-nba-players-reject-latest-offer-putting-season-in-jeopardy/2011/11/14/gIQAjB3UMN_story.html?tid=pm_pop
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7234180/nba-lockout-players-not-accept-deal-seek-disband-billy-hunter-says
http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2011/11/nba-lockout
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111115&content_id=25981170&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111115&content_id=25981170&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
http://www.chron.com/news/article/NBA-should-have-learned-from-MLB-2271281.php
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/904159-5-key-issues-of-interest-in-mlbs-collective-bargaining-agreement-negotiations
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/10/24/five-recommendations-for-mlbs-new-collective-bargaining-agreement/
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