FanPost

Why I Have Zero Sympathy For The Players In The CBA Negotiations.


1.  Lets get something straight right off the top.  This is not the NFL where a lot of the players wind up physically handicapped after their careers are over, many of which are shortened by injury.   Yes there are some NBA players whose careers are shortened by injury before they are 30 but this is relatively rare.  On top of that even someone like a Shaun Livingston whose knee was blown out beyond belief will probably be able to live a normal life after his playing days are done.

2.  NBA players average income including endorsements is probably the highest in the world for any group of employes unionized or not.  

3.  Fans have to pay an outrageously exorbitant amount to go to a NBA game and this is due to the the fact that the average players pay in the NBA is close to $500,000 a month with some going as high as $1.5 million a month even before endorsements.   It costs me more to go to a game then I spend on food in one week and that is not even when I sit in a decent seat.   A really good seat costs more for one game than the price of a computer.

4. They probably get the best medical care in the world for any group of employees

5. They have excellent retirement benefits like almost all union employees have

6. The more money the players make the more the owners are going to have to charge the fans to come to the arena to watch a game and ticket prices are already outrageously high. Yes there is always TV but as any fan will tell you it is not the same experience watching the game with a TV no matter how wide the screen compared to going to the arena and watching it, especially when you have a decent seat.

7.  Its not like the owner's are asking the players to got back to the pre-Jordan era salaries and benefits.  The owners 10 year proposal will still allow the players to live the luxurious life style that most of them do.  So maybe instead of throwing a $100,000 party they will have to drop it to a $75,000 party or cut out a couple of parties a year.

8.  It costs hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase a franchise and hundreds of millions of dollars to build an arena.  The owners take a huge financial risk when they buy a team and they are entitled to make however much they make.  The last time I checked Canada and the U.S.A. were not Communist controlled countries so the risk takers who put up the money are entitled to make whatever they can make and it is no business of their employees how much money they make.  Just like owners don't go around asking their players how much money they make in endorsements from basketball which they also have no right to know.

I am a fan.  I love the game.  I want to be able to afford to go to a game and even afford to take someone with me and not have to settle for watching it on a big screen somewhere just so the players can afford to give more expensive and more frequent parties.