The NBA has officially cancelled its first two weeks of the regular season on October 10th. The lockout was caused by the players and owners’ inability to come to an accord over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The players have asked for 57% of the league’s revenue (which was $4 billion last season) in salaries, while the owners only offer 46%. In recent days the two sides have come closer and discussed a possible 50-50 split, however a deal was not done. The last lockout occurred in 1999 when the two sides couldn’t come up with a deal until Jan 6, with the season ending up being 50 games (down from 82).
This lockout means that all the sport arena employees; ushers, security, parking lot attendants, restaurant workers, and others are now being laid off. These people will now add to America’s unemployment problem which is already at 14 million as teams have already started firing staff. Secondly a lockout risks losing the loyalty of its fan base who can switch to other sports, just as many NHL fans have switched to NFL after the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, therefore the league will start losing more money. Fans are starting to feel unappreciated, and if a deal is not put in place quickly then it could have severe consequences on NBA’s future.
Work Cited:
“NBA Labor — David Stern cancels first two weeks of NBA season – ESPN.” ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. <http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7085089/nba-labor-david-stern-cancels-first-two-weeks-nba-season>.
Great story, it is unfortunate that the NBA has not been able to come to an agreement yet between the owners and players but I hope they do soon! If there’s no basketball, what do you see the consequences being if this entire season is canceled?
A loss of the Fan base and potentially loss of star players who may chose to take their talents overseas to China or Europe.