The NBA Isn't the NFL: Why the Basketball Strike Will Be Brief
The NBA strike won't last anywhere near as long as the NFL strike already has. That's because pro football has something pro basketball doesn't: Money.
With the contract between NBA players and owners set to expire today, sports fans are more nervous than heroin addicts waiting for a methadone clinic to open. They have a right to be. The two sides are miles apart on some very basic issues: What percentage of revenue the players should receive, whether teams should have a hard cap on payrolls, and how owners should share their money.
It doesn't help that the two sides are not getting along well. Players postponed talks this week until the Thursday deadline because they were upset that Commissioner David Stern publicly revealed details of the league's latest proposal and called the union's offer of a $500 million giveback "modest."
Why things are different
Fear not. The basketball strike is highly unlikely to be a repeat of the NFL lockout -- now in its fourth month. Why? In the words of the great labor analyst Cyndi Lauper: "Money changes everything."
The football dispute is about how to carve up a pie that is getting bigger -- the NFL grossed $9.3 billion last year. The NBA, however, is bleeding money. Most of its franchises are losing money, which is why when one is sold it generally goes for less than was paid for it. This means the owners actually have a legitimate case for curtailing costs.
But some observers think that may not be enough to close the deal. They think basketball players have more than enough money to hold out for a while. "Players have been so well-paid for so long, they can hold out for longer than most of the other sports. NBA players don't have the same [financial] issues as NFL players, who are very eager to get back on the field," says Marc Ganis, president and founder of the consulting firm SportsCorp.
And while it is true NBA players average $4.79 million a year vs. an average $2.36 million in the NFL, that's not the whole story. As Forbes' Mike Ozanian points out: "Nearly half of the players in the NBA ask for advances on their paychecks during any given month, frequently because they spend a higher percentage of their earnings."
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we like to call a decisive factor.
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