Laying the Groundwork for the Indians’ 2012 Payroll
October 4, 2011Rocktober #1: Genesis
October 4, 2011Tuesday represents a make or break day for the NBA owners and players, as a serious, legitimate framework of a deal must be reached today in order for there to be a complete NBA season.
If/when a deal isn’t close to being finished by the end of Tuesday, there will begin to be real consequences. The rest of the preseason will surely be cancelled, and with that, the beginning of the season will be gone as well. There may still be time to salvage some portion of the season, but once regular season games are starting to be lost, you have to assume both sides will go to their corners and galvanize into two groups with a renewed steadfastness in their position. At that point, there is nothing left to lose.
There are different degrees of optimism/pessimism being expressed by different pundits who are following the situation closely. When players’ agents are swooping in at the 11th hour to deliver a message intended to splinter the players union and demolish any progress already made, though, it’s hard to imagine a deal being made.
The players aren’t alone in their un-unified union. The owners are split as well, between the hard liners and the big money/big market owners. The players and the owners alike need to find their own separate common ground until a deal even has a chance to be made.
It’s not much of a leap to assume the worst. Once the season begins losing games, the blame is going to start flying. Players, Owners, the Players Association, the players’ agents, commissioner Stern, the media, the fans…everyone is going to be looking for someone else to blame.
To be sure, there is plenty of blame to go around. But who deserves the blame? And does it even really matter? The problem is everyone, and I mean everyone, knows precisely how this deal gets made.
The split of the Basketball Related Income in the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement was 57% to the players and 43% to the owners. Obviously this isn’t working right. There can be debate over how bad it really is or is not, but to some degree, the split is unfair to ownership. The players are offering to reduce their split to 53% now, but the owners are only offering them 48% in return.
Some might argue that because the owners invest their capital into the franchise and assume the risk on their return all by themselves that they should be entitled to a higher split. Still others might argue it should just be a 50-50 split. The problem is that there are only 30 owners and as many as 450 players. So a 50-50 split isn’t a 50-50 split at all. Instead, each owner would get 1.67% of the BRI while each player would get 0.1% of the BRI (if the money was split evenly amongst players and owners). By shifting the percentages slightly toward the players, it allows the players to be content with having enough money to pay all the players while the owners are still the ones making the most return on their investment.
At a 52% tip toward the players, all sides can claim victory. The players can argue they kept the surplus tipped their way and didn’t give in to the owners’ demands at 48%. The owners, meanwhile, will laud the 5% reduction they forced. Everyone wins. That’s where this deal gets made. Once both sides agree to the 52% split, the rest will fall in line. The two sides will give and take on the systematic issues the CBA and before long a deal will be made.
This isn’t new, though. This deal has been staring both sides in the face for years, and neither side has taken the high road to just go ahead and propose it. The fear is, whichever side blinks and offers 52%, the other side will see it as a concession and then hold on for an extra percentage point. So instead, both sides continue to stare at the obvious answer right in front of their faces.
But to blame anyone may be misguided. This is still America, after all, and in this country, you are entitled to fight for what you feel you deserve. It’s frustrating to see certain fans blaming the “hard line” owners who want change that will both improve parity and increase profits to the owners. Nobody likes the financial side of this, because none of the parties involved are being honest about it. But on the parity side, this is a real fight. This is a chance to change the way teams can build the type of dynasties that have dominated the NBA since its beginning.
Why shouldn’t Dan Gilbert be allowed to fight for a system that will help the Cavaliers? Why should he give in just so fans in other markets can have basketball? Dan Gilbert’s responsibility is to the Cleveland Cavaliers and to the NBA as a whole. In that order. And believe it or not, but there actually hard core NBA fans in the great city of Cleveland who are willing to sacrifice a season to get a system that will help the team they root for. The NBA has always been a market driven sports, and this time, a lot of us were hoping the “hard liners” would for once win one for the little guys.
By the same token, though, why shouldn’t owners like James Dolan, Jerry Buss, and Mickey Arison be allowed to fight for the best interests of their teams? And why shouldn’t the players be able to fight for what they feel is fair? And the agents? And on and on.
There’s no need for the finger pointing and blame. It’s not helpful at all. Instead, everyone needs to be quiet and listen to the other side’s point of view. Once each side develops a positive understand of the other side’s perspective and point of view, then a true common ground can be achieved.
Rather than one side closing their eyes and taking a blind leap of faith toward 52% and hoping the other side doesn’t use it against them, both sides could agree to 52% at the same time by understanding that it’s a compromise that can work for everyone involved.
There’s so much rhetoric out there about blaming David Stern, or blaming the hard liners, or blaming the players, or blaming the agents. I refuse to blame any one party. If there is no NBA season this year, or even a reduced one, it’s not the fault of any of them on their own. It’s the fault of everyone involved. No single entity should be absolved. If common ground can’t be found, then maybe a lost season really is needed. Perhaps it would remind everyone what they are fighting for, what is so great about the NBA, and why compromise and change is needed. Until that common ground is found, everything else is just posturing.
10 Comments
Agreed that the blame game is pointless. But I will blame the owners if parts of the season are lost and the new system still doesn’t encourage parity amongst the franchises. The NBA’s current system is a hybrid between the NFL and MLB and it needs to be more like the NFL for that parity to exist. It may not work exactly like the NFL in words, but it needs to in deed. If we lose games simply so the owners can get more of the BRI, this whole thing has been a farce.
I agree with that 100% AMC. It’s not worth losing a single game to swing even just 1% of the BRI. It is, however, worth it to get real change to the system.
I think we’re going to get some changes. I think at least a reduction in the Mid-Level Exception, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see an increase in penalty for the luxury tax. I don’t think the owners will get everything they want. I’d be surprised if the players let either the “Carmelo Rule” or the limitation of Bird Rights players to 1 per team per season to get passed. But we’ll see.
@AMC 1000% agree!
I have zero problem with the owners cancelling the entire season as long as you come back with a hard cap similiar to the NHL or NFL. If you miss a bunch of games and all that really changes is the percentage of BRI then no one really cares and it was all for nothing. Personally the players should take whatever is offered today and move on…they will never get a better deal.
whatever happens we need to see a full season or no season….half a season favors the Heat way too much.
and wouldn’t that just be fitting, for the players that took the biggest shortcut to win a ring in a shortened season?
I love that LBJ’s selfish act last year played some role in him losing one of his prime years to win a championship.
I, for one, hope the entire season goes away and a fair system is the result. If not, why even have an NBA team in Cleveland?
The Cavs sure are lucky that Kyrie decided to come out if this situation was known to be the most likely scenario. Wonder what he’s thinking right now. Gave up a pretty juicy spot with Duke to voluntarily be a part of this mess.
@christopher – Right on!
I’m willing to miss the entire season if it means a system where small market teams have more protection against losing their franchise players. The Cavs are going to stink anyway, so why not get another lottery pick without having to suffer through another miserable season. And it costs the Cheat one more year of their prime.
Totally agree with you guys. I’m usually on the owner’s side of things, but if games are missed and real changes aren’t made, just more money in their pockets, then I’ll be upset.
I really don’t see that happening though. There are too many owners who seem to really want that hard cap installed, even if they won’t call it that anymore.
Where did the 52% number come from?
i’m with boom.
if you’re siding with the players, you’re rooting for an 8 team league with franchises in miami, ft lauderdale, vegas, la (2), nyc (2), and nassau.
I don’t think this is a case of the various parties needing to “understand the other side’s perspective” as much as it is a game of chicken where the owners don’t have to blink.
I agree with Ben @3, the players will never get a better deal than now, because as soon as they start losing paychecks the owners have them over a barrel and the vast majority of players didn’t save for the lockout.