For a long time, NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that 22 of the 30 league franchises are not profitable and regularly lose money due to the last collective bargaining agreement, spiraling costs, and shrinking private and corporate arena attendance because of the recession. NBA owners can do nothing to eliminate spiraling costs and the recession; they can, however, restructure the new collective bargaining agreement.
It amazes me how the press focuses on fracturing unity and developing factions on the Players Association union side (Hunter vs. Fisher), when the real rift is and has always been between big-market and small-market owners. Among the profitable 8 franchises, you have Boston, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, and the 2 Los Angeles teams. At least, those should be the ones. For the Big Eight, they want basketball now, even if certain concessions must be made to pacify the players.
On the other hand, the unprofitable teams (at least 10 to 14 of the 22, anyway) wish to make no further concessions to the players, including the maintenance of a hardline position on BRI percentages.
If the Big Eight owners hadn't been so greedy in the first place, with little revenue sharing and minor luxury tax penalties for high payrolls creating gross inequities and mini-dynasties, they wouldn't find themselves now facing two adversaries: the players' union in the open and the unprofitable/small-market owners behind closed doors.
The Little Twenty-Two owners have been brilliant throughout the negotiations, agreeing to disagree with any movement toward concessions and appeasement. They see this moment (or year) in history as their opportunity to address and redress old grievances with the Big Eight and Commissioner's Office. It's time to be fair to the small owners, not the big owners and the players who are rolling in it regardless of the final negotiated numbers.
If changes are not adopted to benefit the Little Twenty-Two, you will hear a giant sucking sound (to paraphrase Ross Perot, circa 1992) as NBA franchises either fold or relocate to suburbs of the major metropolitan areas. Sacramento to Orange County? That's only the tip of the iceberg if fairness along an NFL model of revenue sharing is not implemented.
The players have their beef, legitimate or not; the small-market owners have their beef, truly legitimate.
The NBA has problems besides those discussed above, regardless of the inflated 2011 postseason television ratings. First of all, the season is just too long. The most popular team sport, NFL football, has a regular season that is only one month longer than its college counterpart. Why does the NBA still believe it can stretch out a regular season three months longer than its similar counterpart (including the one-month headstart in the fall)? College athletes skilled enough to go pro go from 32 regular-season games (at most) to 82 in the NBA!
Is the resulting abundance counterproductive? Apparently, not to revenue streams. However, such a schedule elephantiasis is detrimental to the quality of the game being played, and it is detrimental to the players' health. With such a glutted schedule, do teams ever coast through games, particularly on the road? Of course! They have to! An athlete only has so much energy, so much durability, so much endurance, so much mental acuteness.
The result is that fans and players are cheated. Players' careers are shortened by years because of the number of games and length of the season. Basketball knees prematurely age: injuries only exacerbate the situation. Look at Kobe Bryant: he is slowing down tremendously, and not because he wants to. Kobe has endured 14 NBA seasons, many with an extra six weeks os so of full postseason runs. Kareem was right: cap the season at 60 games max, with no back-to-backs.
How else is the fan cheated? Frankly, there are too many teams, resulting in a dilution in quality, particularly when it comes to bench depth beyond the starting five. If 10 teams went away, the quality of the product remaining would be boosted tremendously.
How else is the fan cheated? Stars only stay in college for one year before bolting for the NBA. That cheats not only college basketball fans who remain frustrated at a lack of continuity in regal programs, but it also cheats NBA fans, because the players arrive with great physical skills but usually substandard fundamentals and a subsubstandard team mentality.
The NBA made a little progress, requiring a player to be 19 before playing in the league after so many 18-year-olds had crashed and burned (Lebron, Kobe, and Kevin among the notable exceptions). It should do more. Make the age minimum 21 (like the NFL), or make players eligible for the draft at 18, but if they opt for college, they cannot re-enter the draft until their senior season (like the NHL or MLB).
To recap, NBA players have legit grievances, but most of them concern scheduling and drafting issues, not financial ones. Unprofitable NBA team owners also have legit grievances, most recently voiced by none other than legend and former superstar Michael Jordan (now a part-owner of a small-market team).
What is the good news? No NBA games until at least December 1, as it should be.
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