Other Sports How will you react if the NBA cancels its season? - Page 5

Deberg_1990 · 09-29-2011, 12:55 PM

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/stor...t-consequences

It doesn’t necessarily matter what NBA commissioner David Stern meant when he said on Wednesday that the upcoming weekend of negotiations between players and the league would determine “whether they can either have a season or not have a season.” Maybe it was a threat, as it sure seemed to be—a grand warning that if they did not accede to a deal, players would miss out on an entire year of salary. But the league is insisting it was not a threat, so maybe it wasn’t.

It’s not really important, though, because we don’t need any pronouncements from Stern to notice that the pages are slipping away on the NBA’s calendar, and with both sides reporting on Wednesday that no progress had been made, at the very least, the beginning of the season is in jeopardy.

The sides will meet again on Friday, and considering it will take about two weeks to iron out the details of a collective bargaining agreement, it’s clear that without significant movement this weekend, the season won’t start on time on Nov. 1. During the 1998 lockout, the league started canceling regular-season games on October 13, and that timeline should hold up this time around.

Canceling the season is still an option, but it’s on the back-burner. There are some who believe that once some games are missed, owners will be willing to axe the whole season, as the NHL did in ’05. But bear in mind, losing an entire season would not just be a hit to the players. It would be a big hit to the owners, too. There is a provision in the league’s television contract that pays the league even in the event of lost games, something that surely increases the owners’ bargaining power in the early stages of a lockout. Owners will still be feeding from their deepest trough, while players miss paychecks.

There is a catch, though—if the entire season is canceled, the owners will have to return the television money, plus interest. The threat of the season being canceled can be arrived at just by looking at the calendar and noting the lack of progress the two sides have made. But there would be no point to a preemptive canceling of the season on Stern’s part.

SI.com’s Sam Amick reports that Stern has laid out a Jan. 7 drop-dead date for cancellation of the season. That was the same deadline in ’99, when a scattered and shortened 50-game season began on February 5—with very negative results. Attendance fell by 2.2 percent, television ratings fell sharply and NBA Finals ratings went from 18.7 to 11.3. That was largely because of the retirement of Michael Jordan and the breakup of the Bulls, but still, it took a long time for the NBA to recover its popularity.

The league last season regained its relevance among fans. Players have a lot at stake in the case of a canceled season. But while owners might be in a better financial position to withstand a long lockout, they saw the NBA finally climb out of its post-Jordan doldrums, and they have a lot at stake here, too.

A canceled season is still a possibility. But we’re a long way from that point.

09-29-2011, 12:55 PM	Topic Starter
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $344454	How will you react if the NBA cancels its season? http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/stor...t-consequences It doesn’t necessarily matter what NBA commissioner David Stern meant when he said on Wednesday that the upcoming weekend of negotiations between players and the league would determine “whether they can either have a season or not have a season.” Maybe it was a threat, as it sure seemed to be—a grand warning that if they did not accede to a deal, players would miss out on an entire year of salary. But the league is insisting it was not a threat, so maybe it wasn’t. It’s not really important, though, because we don’t need any pronouncements from Stern to notice that the pages are slipping away on the NBA’s calendar, and with both sides reporting on Wednesday that no progress had been made, at the very least, the beginning of the season is in jeopardy. The sides will meet again on Friday, and considering it will take about two weeks to iron out the details of a collective bargaining agreement, it’s clear that without significant movement this weekend, the season won’t start on time on Nov. 1. During the 1998 lockout, the league started canceling regular-season games on October 13, and that timeline should hold up this time around. Canceling the season is still an option, but it’s on the back-burner. There are some who believe that once some games are missed, owners will be willing to axe the whole season, as the NHL did in ’05. But bear in mind, losing an entire season would not just be a hit to the players. It would be a big hit to the owners, too. There is a provision in the league’s television contract that pays the league even in the event of lost games, something that surely increases the owners’ bargaining power in the early stages of a lockout. Owners will still be feeding from their deepest trough, while players miss paychecks. There is a catch, though—if the entire season is canceled, the owners will have to return the television money, plus interest. The threat of the season being canceled can be arrived at just by looking at the calendar and noting the lack of progress the two sides have made. But there would be no point to a preemptive canceling of the season on Stern’s part. SI.com’s Sam Amick reports that Stern has laid out a Jan. 7 drop-dead date for cancellation of the season. That was the same deadline in ’99, when a scattered and shortened 50-game season began on February 5—with very negative results. Attendance fell by 2.2 percent, television ratings fell sharply and NBA Finals ratings went from 18.7 to 11.3. That was largely because of the retirement of Michael Jordan and the breakup of the Bulls, but still, it took a long time for the NBA to recover its popularity. The league last season regained its relevance among fans. Players have a lot at stake in the case of a canceled season. But while owners might be in a better financial position to withstand a long lockout, they saw the NBA finally climb out of its post-Jordan doldrums, and they have a lot at stake here, too. A canceled season is still a possibility. But we’re a long way from that point.
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