It's official: Sacramento, Denver, and Utah have become farm teams of major city franchises. Apparently, the NBA has decided to follow Major League Baseball's business model by making small market teams irrelevant and nothing more than minor league teams for the big glamour city franchises. Naysayers to this reasonable observation will say, "But wait! What about San Antonio? What about the NBA salary cap that MLB does not have?" Are you serious?
Yes, San Antonio is an anomaly with great ownership, management, and coaching. They've also been lucky with draft picks and foreign players. More importantly, they have Texas money in a smaller population base and American glamour in its proximity to hipster boomtown Austin. Filling luxury suites is a non-issue for the Spurs.
As for the salary cap, it's true that the NBA has one. However, a rich franchise can easily work around it by paying a luxury tax for excessive payroll (which arena and multimedia revenues take care of). Meanwhile, a relatively poor team has to stay within the cap boundaries to avoid the penalties it can ill afford.
More importantly, by not following the NFL business model which adheres to stricter salary caps, revenue sharing and media exposure equality, the NBA encourages superstar players to flee provincial markets for the big glamour-party central cities where endorsement revenues can be much higher to more than pay for the ultra-luxury lifestyles found in such metropolises.
Yes, even the NFL has problems with spoiled draftees who demand to settle in certain cities (attention Eli Manning and John Elway) or headstrong free agents demanding to be treated like kings. Still, with the NFL most free agents desire a great team over a great city. That makes sense since the contracts don't differ greatly and the season is short enough so they can still live in the glamour city for over half the year if they are stuck in Cleveland or Green Bay.
Specifically, Denver, Sacramento, and Utah have become irrelevant in the NBA with recent trades and fire sales. Like the Oakland A's, Florida Marlins, and San Diego Padres, they've confessed they are nothing but farm teams for the big city franchises. If I lived there, I would stop attending games and stop watching or listening on TV or radio. It doesn't matter, unless you live in San Antonio.
Encourage contraction. In the NBA, at least ten teams could go away with no shedding of tears. Of coure, it's the support staff that gets hurt in this. The less talented players can find good-paying work in Europe. The vendors, security, and parking staffers? No such luck.
Denver gave Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks. Utah gave Deron Williams to the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets. NBA toadies like Colin Cowherd say the trades were good for the smaller-market teams. Of course he would say that. He is paid by ESPN which is heavily invested in the league. The propaganda sounds eerily similar to that espoused in defense of the BCS inequities.
Worst of all, Sacramento gave Carl Landry to another troubled franchise, New Orleans, in its continuing quest to reduce the Kings to rubble in order to reduce the public complaints when the Maloof owners declare they are moving the team to Anaheim. A move has been in the works for years. The cash-strapped Maloofs wanted cash-strapped Sacramento to pay for a new arena for the team. You see, Arco Arena is an ancient building of about twenty years. They want more luxury boxes and an excuse for higher ticket prices for general seating during a recession. Hey, Tower Records used to have a luxury suite, and as Napster's founder says in the movie THE SOCIAL NETWORK, try to buy a CD at Tower today.
David Stern must worship Bud Selig when Selig says baseball has never been healthier. Tell that to Kansas City and Pittsburgh fans. The propaganda continues. . .
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