In response and to add on top of Adrian’s blog about NBA Lockout

The NBA 2011-2012 season was scheduled to begin on November 1st. However, due to the unsettled Collective Bargain Agreement, the future of the season remains unknown. As Adrian has pointed out in his post, the players union had rejected owner’s offer multiple times over the dispute of BRI, Basketball Related Income, share between owners and players. It is evident to see why the players would reject the proposal since the owners want to cut the share from 57% player to 47-50%. The players are taking a pay-cut of at least 7% since the owners claim to be losing money. The previous blog on NBA (Accountant’s Magic – NBA Style Pt.1) discussed the issue of teams claiming to be in deficit. One interesting thing to note is that, Michael Jordan, basketball legend, now the majority owner of Charlotte Bobcats, has been one of the hardline owners who want to cap the share at a dreadful 47% due to team loss. However, in 1998 under a similar dispute over labour agreement, Jordan, then a player, criticized the owners with the famous quote, “If you can’t make a profit, you should sell your team”. We can definitely see some hypocrisy from Jordan.

NBA Commissioner David Stern VS Head of Players Union Derek Fisher

From a marketing perspective, the lockout is not healthy at all for the basketball industry. The NBA has reached record viewership last season, having a lockout could cause a loss of fans, since in the US does not seem to lack choices of sport entertainment. If the NBA stays idle, it can be hurting not only the players and owners, but also many related businesses and workers.