Sports Lockouts

Unions have been in the media a lot lately, with teachers unions in Wisconsin coming under fire from the local government and sports unions getting locked out by the team owners. So which professional sports have had lockouts and what has been the short and long-term results of them?

Hockey and the NHL have never really taken off in the US and enjoyed success the way the other major sports have. That has not been helped by poor financial managing of the league, labor disputes, and lockouts. The first owner-imposed work stoppage was during the 1994-1995 season and resulted in the season being reduced from 84 to 48 games.

In the 2004-2005 "season" the NHL was completely locked out, becoming the first major sport to lose an entire season to a work stoppage. The NHL resumed operations the following year and with their new CBA have been on solid ground since, increasing attendance and revenue through better financial planning, management, and marketing.

Basketball has long been a popular sport in the US, with the NBA playing host to the greatest players in the world. They have, however, not been without their own labor issues, the first of which took place during the 1995 season. A second lockout reduced the 1998-1999 season from 82 games to 50 games and canceled the All-Star game. The San Antonio Spurs would end up the champions of the shortened season in their first of several titles.

On July 1, 2011, the NBA owners locked the players out for the third time in league history. At this time there has been no progress on a new CBA and many players are considering playing basketball in other countries if the season is lost.

Football has arguably supplanted baseball as our nation's past-time, with viewing audiences and attendance records regularly being set and then shattered year after year. This year, however, there almost wasn't a season.

In 2008 the owners opted out of the final 2 years of the CBA with the players, meaning that there was no deal in place after the 2010 season. In March of 2011, with negotiations breaking down and the NFLPA decertifying, the owners locked the players out.

The lockout lasted until July of the same year and is the longest labor dispute in NFL history, in no small part because of it taking place during the off-season. The only on-field casualty of the lockout was the Hall of Fame Game, a pre-season game between the St. Lous Rams and the Chicago Bears, being canceled.