Billy Hunter expects entire NBA season to be cancelled because of lockout

What I don't get is if small market teams are losing MASSIVE money, why don't the NBA call for a contraction? If a small market team is losing money, it's because of many reasons, I'm sure, but some of those reasons are:

-fan attendance
-lack of lucrative TV deals
-lack of star power players

So if you can't get a star player onto your team because of your small market/fan base and you can't get a lucrative TV contract because you lack star player(s), then why don't you, as an owner, merge your team with another owner and avoid the losses? Is owning an NBA team THAT glamorous for you that you would keep a mediocre team in a city just so you can tell your buddies "Hey, I own this ****ty team".

 

Sounds about right

Even though the players have to make concessions, the owners are going to have to face the facts that some teams need to fold and many of the problems that many of these clubs face are due to stupid business decisions.

This is really coming down to big market owners vs. small market owners and it will probably take a whole year to iron it out

 

Why do they wait until the last minute to discuss CBAs?

 

To see who blinks first.

 

Players can't hold out an entire season, but owners can, and most fans won't even notice the NBA is missing until after the Super Bowl.

 

I dont care about the players and owners. All I know is I have no idea how I am going to spend an entire season without NBA.

 

This is so depressing. I'm not a sports fan. I'm an NBA fan. I can't make do on football or baseball. I'm not remotely interested in them. I guess I better start following college basketball.

 

That's how I started following sports. NBA, then MLB, then NFL...then anything 'sports'

Funny thing is, the attitude of the NBA players has kind of killed the NBA fan in me. It's not even my top sport, and I won't make time to watch a dull game.

This lockout is a good thing, IMO. Bust some ego.

 

I agree. I'm willing to sacrifice this year for the long term health of the game. As the way things are going, the situation is just untenable.

 

Wow, you are worse off than me. The NBA is my #1, but I also like the NFL. I don't have any idea yet if college basketball will fill any of the void.

 

Agreed with the posts above.

If guys like Rashard Lewis and Joe Johnson are getting that kind of money... a lockout is deserving.

 

The NBA, players and owners, are going to really regret this lockout. The NBA should be basking in and celebrating the AMAZING Finals series that just took place, and building off of that. Instead, they are heading into a lockout.

This lockout will not garner the attention of the fans the way the NFL lockout did, mostly because the NFL season will be in progress until Feb and the NFL is also king. To the casual fan, the NBA will simply be forgotten until next spring.

They have basically taken one step forward and are in the process of taking three steps back.

 

NBA fan foremost here, NFL fan second. Now all I've got to look forward is season 6 of "No Playoffs Kubiak" and a franchise whose 9-7 season is the only time they ever had a winning season. Pathetic.

 

[rquoter]The union chief said NBA commissioner David Stern was being limited in negotiations by hard-line owners.

"The circumstances have changed among his constituency," said Hunter, the executive director since 1996. "In the last six or seven years, there is a new group of owners to come in who paid a premium for their franchises, and what they're doing is kind of holding his feet to the fire."[/rquoter]

This makes a lot of sense. Purchase prices for franchises had been climbing at incredible rates, but are probably plateauing now. Owners in the '95 deal could make small operating profits and still make large capital gains profits. The new owners can't do that so they have to get their money from operating profits.

Still, I think revenue sharing is the way out. According to some NYT article based on Forbes data, $150m of the $180m the league earned last season was earned by 3 teams -- NY, Chicago, and LA Lakers. That's great for them, but they can't contract down to a 3-team league. They need the Bucks to come to town and aren't paying them enough to do it.

 

Wasn't all this end of the world hoopla going on with the NFL lockout too? Look where that ended up.....on time for the season. I won't believe it until I see it.

 

NBA situation is widely regarded as the worst of the two.

 

The owners may be losing money, but a lot of their income is recognized when they sell the franchise.

And, I am not sure how all the revenue is tabulated, or accounted for, ie, does an owner pay himself $20 million a year as CEO, thus showing a loss on the books, but he gets to take a massive tax break etc to offset other personal income.

The way these things are structured is great for tax lawyers, but don't believe for a second all those franchises are losing money.

As for contraction, they would have to buy out some owners, and for a profit, I doubt that the NBA is interested in that, they want to expand their business, not contract it.

DD

 

yeah but the NFL lockout was a lot more simple. Everyone knew they were not going to miss the season. Both the players, owners, fans and the media. Everyone was making money in the NFL they just had to decide how to cut the gigantic pie.

On the NBA lockout, everyone expects there will be no season. The Media, the players association, Billy Hunter, David Stern, the owners and Charles Barkley.. From all the info/comments coming out they are very far apart. Outlook for NBA right now is not good .. oh well . .

 

Are you blaming the player for signing that contract? Or teams who offered those contracts?

Look both sides are at fault here, and both sides are being babies.

The NBA wants the players to offer a rolling $900 mil over 6 seasons is unreasonable; the players offer $100 mil over 6 seasons is not good enough.

Simple answer: settle at $400-500 mil rolling over 6 seasons and get this damn season started.

And increase revenue sharing a little bit.