NBA commissioner David Stern has always pushed for international exposure, Stern even had eventual overseas expansion on his mind. Unfortunately for us in the states and for Stern, the NBA might be going more international sooner than expected, or is it unfortunate for the commissioner?
According to Ian Thomsen, of SI.com, in 2008 a league “source” told SI.com that David Stern was planning on creating a complete NBA European division within ten years. While those are very lofty goals, Stern has been taking baby steps ever since. This past season there was an exhibition preseason and regular season game that were all played in Europe. The Lakers played the Timberwolves in London for a preseason matchup and also played an exhibition game against FC Barcelona in Barcelona. During the regular season, the Nets and Raptors played a game in London, why these two bottom feeder teams were sent, I don’t know.
These have all been moves by David Stern to push towards NBA exposure and eventual expansion into Europe. And why not? There are over thirty five countries represented in the NBA now, and two of the past five NBA Finals MVP’s have been international players, Tony Parker of France, and Dirk Nowitzki of Germany. It seems like the move towards eventual expansion might be inevitable. Then came the lockout, and the international exposure might be coming a little sooner than expected.
With the lockout well under way and talk of there being a shortened season or possibly not a season at all, NBA players are seriously considering crossing the pond to keep the rust off their game and their bank accounts full. Just today, it was reported on ESPN that Steve Nash was open to playing in Europe, Deron Williams is on record for saying that he would play in Turkey if the lockout lasted through November, Amare Stoudemire said if his back was better he would consider his European options, and Kevin Durant stated he would “like to try something new”, but he prefers the NBA saying it was, of course, his first choice.
What will be interesting to see when the time comes is who will be the first to go international, and how quickly others will follow. As we have looked at, David Stern has always been the driving force behind the NBA’s international exposure. If Stern wants this NBA season to be a full one or for there to even be one at all, the cards are stacked against him and the NBA owners. The players now seem to have a back up in playing overseas and none of them are opposed to it. In fact, many of them have been embracing the idea, viewing it as a “once in a life time opportunity”, which it is, and will willingly go as soon as there is a sign of a shortened season. This gives the owners a lot less leverage in these bargaining agreements and might have to give more to the players then they had hoped. When it comes down to the nitty gritty, the owners will begin to lose money on the lockout and the players will be fine between their endorsements and opportunities to play basketball abroad.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Why NFL and NBA Players and Owners Picked the Wrong Time to be Greedy
We have seen strikes, labor disputes and lock outs before in professional athletics. The issues sometimes differ but the main motivation behind these issues has always been the same, money. Because of this the general public has and still does normally view both sides as just being wealthy babies that need to get their acts together.
If you were in their shoes though would you so willingly take less money? Doubt it. If it is a hundred more dollars a week, a thousand, or ten thousand you would always be willing to put some more effort into getting your way. Same goes for the NBA and NFL owners and players. This time though, they picked they picked the worst possible time to be fighting over their multi-billion dollar industry and this is why.
According to the 2010 census the average American household income was barely above $50,000 a year. And as we all know this recession has forced many people to fight for their jobs, houses, or even to afford to keep their families together. It has been the worst recession period since the Great Depression and we are still waiting to see the sun rise.
For the majority of Americans, including myself, it is hard to imagine the lowest amount of money you could make in a year would be anywhere from $295,000 to just under $500,000. The first is the minimum salary of a NFL player and the second a NBA player. Let me make this clear, those numbers are not the average salaries but the bare minimum of what these players make a year. Yeah that guy who rides the bench all nine years and plays less minutes in his career then a starter in one year is making at least a quarter of a million dollars a year. The Federal minimum wage per hour is only $7.25, at that rate you would rake in a total of $290 a week BEFORE taxes, the minimum per week for a NFL player is $5673.
The highest paid athletes I will not even dive into, the average paid football and basketball players I will however, if the minimum salaries did not surprise you the averages will. The average NBA salary this past year was $4.79 million according to sportingintelligence.com. Just shy of five million, shy in this case means four years of the average Americans income!
It was already well known that NBA and NFL players made millions of dollars; these numbers are not including endorsement deals either. However, when families across the country are fighting to keep their car or choose to start taking public transportation while players and owners want to buy a Ferrari instead of a Corvette, or when families try to cling on to their homes while players and owners are having thoughts of purchasing their second third or fourth homes. We say enough is enough, meet in the middle and make an agreement, because no one feels sorry for any of the players or owners.
If you were in their shoes though would you so willingly take less money? Doubt it. If it is a hundred more dollars a week, a thousand, or ten thousand you would always be willing to put some more effort into getting your way. Same goes for the NBA and NFL owners and players. This time though, they picked they picked the worst possible time to be fighting over their multi-billion dollar industry and this is why.
According to the 2010 census the average American household income was barely above $50,000 a year. And as we all know this recession has forced many people to fight for their jobs, houses, or even to afford to keep their families together. It has been the worst recession period since the Great Depression and we are still waiting to see the sun rise.
For the majority of Americans, including myself, it is hard to imagine the lowest amount of money you could make in a year would be anywhere from $295,000 to just under $500,000. The first is the minimum salary of a NFL player and the second a NBA player. Let me make this clear, those numbers are not the average salaries but the bare minimum of what these players make a year. Yeah that guy who rides the bench all nine years and plays less minutes in his career then a starter in one year is making at least a quarter of a million dollars a year. The Federal minimum wage per hour is only $7.25, at that rate you would rake in a total of $290 a week BEFORE taxes, the minimum per week for a NFL player is $5673.
The highest paid athletes I will not even dive into, the average paid football and basketball players I will however, if the minimum salaries did not surprise you the averages will. The average NBA salary this past year was $4.79 million according to sportingintelligence.com. Just shy of five million, shy in this case means four years of the average Americans income!
It was already well known that NBA and NFL players made millions of dollars; these numbers are not including endorsement deals either. However, when families across the country are fighting to keep their car or choose to start taking public transportation while players and owners want to buy a Ferrari instead of a Corvette, or when families try to cling on to their homes while players and owners are having thoughts of purchasing their second third or fourth homes. We say enough is enough, meet in the middle and make an agreement, because no one feels sorry for any of the players or owners.
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