Has anyone else out there stopped to think that there is a possibility that there could be no professional football or professional basketball?
Yes, you heard me. With the National Football League and the National Basketball Association (not yet, but they will be on Thursday, once the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires) currently in lockouts, fans of these leagues could be without their “religions” for some time.
Let’s start with the NFL. It’s millionaires versus billionaires. The NFL made $9 billion last year and cannot figure out how to split it. Among other things, the players want better benefits for themselves and the retired players. The owners want… well, the owners just want more money. To me, the owners seem greedy, especially with Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots doing most of the money. These guys own two of the most successful franchises in the league. Hell, Jones just built “JerryWorld,” a billion dollar stadium, so we know he isn’t short on cash. In this situation, I side with the players. I know most of you will say that players are paid millions of dollars just to play a game and they should shut up and take pay cuts, but imagine if your boss came to you and asked you to give back 30 percent of your yearly salary. Doesn’t sound good, huh?
The NBA is in an even bigger mess. According to league officials, 22 of 30 teams lost money last year. Owners want shorter contract lengths so they don’t end up paying guys like Eddy Curry and Tracy McGrady $20 million per year for six years. As the current CBA stands, the players receive 57 percent of the revenue. That’s just crazy. Any time you have the guys who sign the checks making less than the guys they are giving the checks to, something is seriously wrong. With these major problems, the NBA could not start until January – or worse, lose an entire season. I’m sure fellow NBA junkie @WesleyVaughn will agree that if there is no NBA next season, I just may cry.
I hope both leagues figure it out. Neither can afford to miss a season (just ask the NHL what happened when they missed the 1994 season). For the NFL, there is just too much money to be made. It’s the most popular sport in the country, and anytime you can make $9 billion in one year, you should find a way to work out your differences. For the NBA, it is coming off arguably its best season since Michael Jordan retired. Because, let’s be honest, whether you loved or hated them (I loved them) everybody wanted to see what the Miami Heat would do. Even after they lost the finals, talk radio was more about what LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the Heat didn’t do rather than what Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks did.
The only people that could possibly be happy about either league not having a season are Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and the powerhouse schools of NCAA basketball. Selig, because this means sports fanatics have to pay closer attention to baseball due to lack of “is Brett Favre coming back?” off-season NFL talk. NCAA basketball, because it forced stars such as North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes and Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger to return to college, which makes those teams better.
After all that said, in my heart of hearts I believe both leagues will figure things out. If they don’t, I’m not sure what I would do. I guess I could become more of a baseball fan…
