NBA: 2 Weeks Of Regular Season Cancelled

NBA: 2 Weeks Of Regular Season Cancelled
The NBA is a $4 billion a year industry that provides the majority of its profits to just a handful of people: owners and players, which are two groups whom are concerned about alienating the supporters of the league if they don’t agree on a new CBA deal soon enough. The whole preseason was cancelled, and yesterday after a meeting that lasted a few hours, NBA commissioner David Stern decided to cancel the first 2 weeks of the regular season in an attempt to put some pressure on the players to accept the deal that is being put in front of them, this because he knows that the players will be the ones that will lose the most if game cancellations continue.

Both parts know that what they are doing is a bit risky when it comes to fan appreciation, as fans can just show indifference to what is going on with the league and focus on other major sporting events such as the NFL, the MLB playoffs, and if they push the starting of the regular season too far, even March Madness.

I don’t want to point fingers, but in all honesty, the players are the ones to blame, because they know that they will be the ones to lose more at the end, including salary money and fan support, but they continue to fight the owners, whom have enough cash to let go as many games as necessary. It is all coming true when it comes to the words of an owner last year, who said that “If there’s no deal and we start losing games, then we’re going to hold out until the players surrender, and we’ll wind up getting everything we want.”

Of course you can understand the position from the players, as they know that once a deal is signed, it will come with long-term consequences, but it is also true that if go back and check history, the players have always lost more than owners when it comes to lockouts in sports, and since the NBPA is fighting against Stern, a man that is used to things going his way, they really don’t stand a chance to get that 3%, which is worth $120 million, and though it is a significant amount of cash, is really not enough to miss a full season over it.