http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2010/12/13/nba-clubs-vote-on-decertification.html I believe the NFL Players' Association is doing this as well, in anticipation of the NFL's possible lockout next year, and I think the NFLPA has done it successfully in the past. Apparently such a move can prevent a lockout with the players' resorting to antitrust laws. Personally I'm in favor of anything that keeps the basketball games going; I don't want to delve into the disputes of millionaire athletes versus billionaire owners about who deserves more money.
I can't imagine not being able to watch basketball for a year and a half. This is a big reason I never hopped on the tanking bandwagon... I'd rather not watch the Rockets tank, then have listen to Chris Broussard spread rumors for 18 months, see threads about Yao being fat, and see Sportscenter solely talk about baseball for the next year and a half.
I wonder if Stern will find a way to block it. In my mind only the teams need to be regulated. Owners as a group need to set a hard cap on salary and and then sign players to what ever they think is reasonable. If they try to under pay the players the foreign leagues will sign the players at a fair market value.
That's an interesting development. It kind of sounds like the nuclear option, though. If the lockout is imminent and they pull the trigger on decertification, then they can't sign any CBA, right? Then what happens? I mean besides the lawsuits.
It will be mass chaos. Each player can negotiate with the NBA on his own terms. The rules (for the most part) would be thrown out. Basically, the league would be unable to function properly without a union with which to collectively bargain. This is not a good thing. This will just make the drama last longer.
What will be seriously nuts is if the NBA and NFL are both locked out for the majority of the 2011 season(s). I think I'll be clinically depressed.
This would play in the leagues favor long term. All the contracts that still have years remaining have to be honored so new deals like the one Carmelo Anthony is looking for are whats going to be effected. Once the union is dissolved all the teams have to do is collectively decide what the new minimum and maximum will be. As long as the max is set to a hardcap the market will regulate its self and players will go where the money is regardless of whether the market is large or small or even over seas in another league. Just like in the real world if company X is willing to pay you 55,000 a year to count widgets in Texas. But then company y offers you 100,000 a year to do it in Ohio guess what your but is more then likely moving.
Did you not read the article? By NOT having a union, players can sue the league for anything remotely approaching the actions you suggest. What you are talking about is COLLUSION. Now, if you have a union that can collectively bargain on behalf of all players as a group, the rules put in place are nice and legal. Otherwise, the league would have some serious antitrust lawsuits hanging over its head. The league needs to have a players union with which to bargain. The union's "threat" of de-certification is just to mess with the league. It resolves nothing and only puts the two sides further away from agreement. If there is ever an official vote in favor of de-certification, you can add at least another month of no basketball onto whatever you were envisioning for the lockout. Bottom line: De-certification = bad for the fans.
The problem there is that the amount isn't as effective, it's a convex shape, $10m to $15m isn't the same as $50k to $75k
I thanks for the explanation I thought de-certification would only effect the owners ability to lock players out. I had no Idea they could not collective decide as owners to set a salary cap with out player input. I thought technically as long as players where paid the minimum wage set by the government the teams could compensate them what ever way they saw fit.
if decertification eventually leads to: 1) players getting paid real market value 2) cheap owners getting pressured to sell their teams 3) league contraction in the number of teams 4) stern getting tossed aside ....then i'm all for it.
No CBA = melo gets a crapload of money beyond the max from New York or Brooklin New Yorkers. New Orleans fans sits there giggling as Paul joins him for beyond the max. However this does mean Jazz would suck absolute balls.
so if this gives the players so much power, why havent they done it already? i mean why have a union for all of these years? there has to be some benefits from having a union that the players will have to give up to decertify. logically, whatever those benefits are, they are enticing enough to stay unionized for years. one can assume that if the players never wanted to give that up before, they dont want to give that up now. the conclusion i see here is that this a clear negotiation tactic. a bluff. if you don't give us what we want we will turn your business into chaos. if they never did it before, i doubt they will do it now.
