NEW YORK Its not so easy as it sounds, apparently, the dividing of $24 billion. Not when half of it goes to 30 team owners who are quite sure fans show up because of the arenas
Jesse Winker Jersey , marketing and operational excellence they provide. And not when the other half goes to 400-plus athletes of varying skill who are certain that the fans are clicking the turnstiles to see them.Thats been the dynamic that has ruled the relationship between management and labor in the NBA since the advent of collective bargaining there has long been the notion that whats best for the game benefits all involved, but in the last two decades, theres only rarely been agreement on just how much benefit should go to each side.MORE: | | The league is contract-bound to ensure that out of all revenues, 51 percent goes to the players. That number is derived from the total basketball-related income of the NBA. So what happens when you take the primary source of those revenues the national television deal and, e sentially, triple them?The NBA is on a path to find out, and it could cause mayhem in front offices everywhere.League commi sioner Adam Silver had presented the NBA players union with a proposal that would have eased some of the shock expected to come from the sudden burst of income. Termed, smoothing, the idea was to artificially hold down the salary cap in the first year of the television deal in order to ramp up to the new level of income.Players would still get 51 percent, but the difference between the salary paid out under the artificial cap and what players should have been
Tom Seaver Jersey paid would be given to the union in a lump sum.On Friday in Manhattan, new NBPA director Michele Roberts said that the union after having the idea weighed by experts had flatly rejected that idea. After all, players who were in position to cash in with new deals in 2016 would find their contracts starting at a lower figure than without smoothing.The proposal that the league submitted was, frankly, lets call it proposal, it would artificially deflate the salary cap, Roberts said. And that, of course, meant that player salaries would not increase as much as they would otherwise were it
Jose Peraza Jersey not for smoothing. That pretty much was what killed it. It killed it in the eyes of the economists that made the recommendations, and it killed it in the eyes of the players.Without agreement from the players, the league can do nothing to change the situation Silver and the owners can only accept the new television money and let the numbers work out however they may. That will almost certainly open a wild free-agent period in which all teams will be handed a huge swath of cap space, and players will be eligible to bring in starting salaries unheard-of under the max-salary structure that came into play after the 1999 lockout.What if the Knicks suddenly had the opportunity to sign up two max-contract players? Or if the Lakers could sign three? Or if the already-stocked Bulls could add another All-Star? Where does that leave, say, Milwaukee or Minnesota or New Orleans?Its what our system is, Silver said on Saturday. The players receive, on a sliding scale, it ranges from 49 to 51 percent, and because of the revenue targets
Johnny Bench Jersey we hit, the players will receive 51 percent of the new television money. At the time we were negotiating the deal, we were not projecting that our television increases would be as large as they are. (Smoothing) is something we presented to the union, ultimately it is up to them to decide what is in the interest of the players a sociation. I have a feeling there will be additional discu sions.Its hard to see an easy way for the union and league to come to an agreement on this. The union has no particular incentive to help the leagues front offices out. At the same time, the union has to deal with the problem of players who are already under contract when the new money kicks in mi sing out on their share of the loot and with players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, potential 2016 free-agents, signing for an artificially lowered maximum salary.The Roberts-Silver relationship has, of course, just gotten underway Roberts was only hired over the summer, and Silver took over for Stern a year ago. Theyll keep talking about some mechanism that can reduce the shock to the NBAs system as the new money comes in, but its difficult to see a compromise there.I havent had a chance to negotiate with the unions directly since they had that meeting (Friday) night, Silver said. My sense is there will be additional discu sions, but ultimately that is what our system is under the current collective bargaining agreement. Its like a lot of things in busine s and in sports, you deal with the situation as it is presented to you. I dont want to act like it is a terrible problem to have were thrilled that based on the interest in the NBA, we are able to command these big increases in the television market.The NBAs new deal looms, and as things stand, the money from that deal will simply roll into team coffers and send the
Billy Hamilton Jersey player market into convulsions in two summers. Its not an ideal prospect from the leagues point of view. Its not ideal from the unions point of view, either.But no one ever said dividing $24 billion would be an easy task.
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