(Image source: NBA)
BY: DAN CORNFIELD
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Locks and chains on arena doors?
Looks like it.
The NBA has moved to lockout players-- and there is no telling when the All-Stars will suit up again.
Fox Sports’ Rick Horrow says a second potential professional lockout couldn’t have come at a worse time for the league.
“The tragedy is great playoffs, great ratings, great viewership, lot of young stars, lot of great markets, and now we’re at the precipice.”
But at least 24 owners in smaller markets say they’re losing millions every year.
"Well it might be creative accounting. But fundamentally it might be 22 teams, 20 teams, 18 teams, but when the say $300 million lost, even if it’s rough around the edges, that is significant. When you look at the numbers, it seems to be that even the players are admitting that the owners are losing money. They’ve got to rectify the situation.”
The NBA now joins the NFL at an impasse.
The Wall Street Journal says fans complain the lockout is billionaires and millionaires squabbling over the scraps.
But Dan Patrick points the blame away from the players.
“David Stern, widely considered one of the great commissioners of all-time in any sport. But how do we get to this point? You got, what, 27 teams who might favor missing an entire season? Because they’re losing money? How does that happen? Who negotiated the last deal that got you to this point? And why do the players always get blamed? Always. These brilliant business men. And who gets blamed? Players?”
The players essentially want things to stay the same. They got what they wanted from the last lockout in 1998. Now they’re clinging to the money they have. CNBC’s Darren Rovell breaks down the owners’ side.
“So the NBA owners want to keep 8% of what the players earned this year, it’s in escrow. That amounts to $160 million. They want to cut current contracts by more than 30% and reduce allowed contract length by a year. They want a salary cap with absolute limits. And they want to reduce the player share of the pie from 57% to 40% over the next 10 years.”
What the owners actually get depends on how long the chains stay on the door. The bargaining table is empty right now. ESPN’s Chris Broussard says his panic meter goes to 7 if the two sides don’t meet soon.
“If that two weeks passes, and they haven’t met, they we’ll know they’ll have to be in panic mode to really get together and meet. And the drop-dead date is somewhere around Labor Day, early September, for the 82 game season to happen. So if they wait until August, you may miss some games.”
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Transcript by Newsy.
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