I'm not saying either. Not sure why you think I am.
I never said they were. I said the league has a salary cap to prevent it, because they're too small for market conditions to prevail.
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I'm not saying either. Not sure why you think I am.
I never said they were. I said the league has a salary cap to prevent it, because they're too small for market conditions to prevail.
I see. Then what measures do you think the league should take "to ensure some level of parity"? And what type of parity do you mean? Parity in the quality of the team they can put on the court? Or parity in how much money each team makes? A lower salary cap means more teams can afford players, but creates far bigger profits for the teams in larger markets.
There are quite a few large-market teams (Knicks, 76ers, Rockets, Suns) that don't field contenders as often as one would guess. And there are small-market teams (Spurs, Trailblazers, Thunder) that "over-achieve" too. That would seem to indicate that parity isn't as much of a problem as the owners claim it is.
They're already doing it with the salary cap, luxury tax, and the draft. And I'm talking about competitive parity on the court - you know this, because you addressed it yourself. This isn't hard, I'm not sure why you're having such a complex.
They're already doing it with the salary cap, luxury tax, and the draft. And I'm talking about competitive parity on the court - you know this, because you addressed it yourself. This isn't hard, I'm not sure why you're having such a complex.
If they're already doing it, then why lock out the players? All three of those things are already in place to try to improve parity. And if parity were the actual issue, then the players would be playing right now. The league wants to cut the amount of revenue that the players receive. The other things are window dressing.
You're right. It isn't hard. If you want to buy into the line that the owners peddle, then you're welcome to. I guess I should have just assumed that you were venting instead of analyzing.
Honestly, I don't fault the players for making that kind of money. If someone wanted to pay me that much for doing a job, I would take it. The average career of most professional athletes is very short, so I don't hold that against them. As you said, the owners are the ones dishing out the money and the ones with no self-control. This is especially true in MLB, since it doesn't have all the controls that the NBA and NFL have. I read an article a while back talking about some of the crazy contracts in MLB. The Mets, for example, were still paying a player (I forget who it was) who hadn't been with the team for 5 years or so. Gotta love guaranteed money if you're the player.
As far as teams losing money, I can see it. By the time a team pays travel costs, facility costs, etc, in addition to salaries, I can see teams in smaller markets with lower attendance losing money. Yeah, a lot of the talk is just an accounting tap-dance, but I can see how they lose money. Last season, my alma mater played in a college football bowl game with a $1 mil+ payout and lost money overall. One of the beat writers did a breakdown of costs, and the travel costs were insane. Yeah, an NBA team isn't going to be flying 100+ people around, but they do travel 40 or so times during a regular season.
This is one of the things that led to the NFL lockout. Rookies were getting insane contracts and signing bonuses without ever having played a minute. Then you wind up with someone like Ryan Leaf or JaMarcus Russell. I can't say I blame the veterans for getting so ticked off.
In the NBA, there are not only maximum contract limitations, there are even stricter rookie contract limitations. Generally, rookies can only sign three-year contracts and although they make a lot compared to when they were in college, many of the young stars are very underpaid because of the limit. And by limiting the contract to three years, the top young players go into free agency early in their careers.
The NBA's biggest issue actually isn't the maximum contracts because only a small percentage of players get those. It's the "middle-class" players who get grossly overpaid. That's where the really ridiculous contracts get paid out.
