It’s becoming apparent that there won’t be an NBA season this year because the league’s players and owners can’t come to terms on a new CBA.
On Monday, commissioner David Stern stood by his previous statement that the owner’s offer to give the players 51 percent of basketball related income is good until Wednesday.
If the players don’t accept those terms – and you can rest assured they won’t – then the owner’s offer will shrink to 47 percent of BRI after Wednesday’s deadline.
With both sides taking such hard line positions in their negotiations, the players and owners are on the verge of throwing away everything the NBA has built over the past several years.
Unlike the NFL lockout that was successfully resolved, the NBA’s players and owners don’t seem to be anywhere close to having the same willingness to overcome their differences.
As such, the biggest difference between the NBA and NFL lockouts is pretty simple. The NBA is really dumb for essentially wiping out billions of dollars in revenue.
Last season, the NBA generated a total annual revenue estimated to be $3.8 billion, much lower than the NFL’s $9 billion.
Although there isn’t nearly as much at stake from a total revenue perspective, leaving $3.8 billion on the table is just plain stupid.
The NFL’s owners and players understood that their labor issues had to be resolved for fear of allowing America’s most popular game to incur the wrath of fans.
Major League Baseball found out the hard way how difficult it is to restore their fan base following the strike of 1994.
If the players and owners don’t come to terms on a new CBA quickly, the NBA is going to experience the same problem baseball had.
And let’s not forget that sports fans will have plenty to keep them happy if the NBA cancels their entire season.
The NFL is at the midway point of their regular season and we’re three months from playing the Super Bowl.
The NHL is in full swing and fans can watch hockey until June. And the college basketball season gets underway on Friday when North Carolina and Michigan State play aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70).
When March Madness rolls around, not too many people are going to care much about the NBA.
During the NFL lockout, virtually everyone agreed that the owners and players would eventually work out their problems in time for the season.
You don’t get that feeling with the NBA, in fact, most feel the exact opposite is more likely to happen.
If the NBA does lose an entire season it will be because the players and owners couldn’t agree on an equitable split of revenue.
That’s a shame considering the two sides are about $100 million apart, which is a trifling amount in the big scheme of things.
But to the average sports fan, the differences between the NBA’s players and owners are meaningless.
Fans don’t care about how much the owners get and what percentage of revenue players receive, they just want to see pro basketball.
Unfortunately, the NBA’s millionaire players and billionaire owners don’t get that.
