At 3 a.m. on November 26, 2011, the NBA owners and players reached a deal on a new labor agreement, ending the 149 day lockout. The deal calls for a 66 game season in 2011-12, that will begin on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011.
As an NBA fan, I'm relieved the lockout is over. As a New Jersey Nets fan I'm really relieved the deal is done because the Nets are moving to Brooklyn in 2012-13. If the NBA canceled the whole season, the Nets would have never played another game in New Jersey, where I live.
Reading through the details of the new labor agreement, I think it's pretty clear that one side got major concessions from the other. Here's the winners from the new NBA labor agreement.
NBA Lockout is Over, Why Owners are the Clear Winners
Owners Clear Winners in the Deal
The owners got major concessions from the players in the new deal. The biggest concession is that the players have agreed to a 50-50 revenue split of basketball related income (BRI). Under the the old deal, the players received 57% of the BRI. In dollar terms, the players are essentially giving back to the owners some $300 million a year under this deal.
That is roughly the exact amount of money the owners claimed to be collectively losing per season. The players are also giving back minor concessions like shorter guaranteed contracts and a harder salary cap to prevent richer teams from overspending.
Fans Also Win with the New NBA Labor Agreement
The new labor agreement will stretch for 10 years. This will be the longest labor agreement in NBA history. So NBA fans won't have to sit through another labor impasse for many years, possibly up to 10. The deal will last for at least six seasons, then either side can opt out. So NBA fans will have labor peace, and no threat of another lockout for at least six years, and possibly lasting the full 10 years.
As an NBA fan, I cannot stand these labor problems and lockouts. If the NBA had played the entire season in 2011-12, they would have $4 billion dollars to split among the roughly 500 players and owners. Sometimes owners and players need to step back and look at the big picture. Your getting an incredible amount of revenue from the game to split among a very select few, and you can't figure out how to split up $4 billion? Give me a break.
Cannot Call the NBA Players Losers
The NBA players went into the lockout as the highest paid athletes among the major sports in the United States. NBA players were paid, on average, $5.15 million per season. That is significantly more that MLB players make ($3.31 million), NHL players ($2.4 million) and NFL players make ($1.9 million). Even though the NBA players gave back some $300 million a year, they will still be the highest paid athletes in the United States by a huge margin.
You also know that the richer NBA teams, like the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and Los Angeles Lakers will find ways around the salary cap, no matter how hard the owners say it is. That will also likely push the players salaries even higher than they are already projected to go.
Let's Play Some Basketball!
In just one month from today, the NBA will start playing regular season games again. As a big time NBA fan that makes me pretty happy for a number of reasons. The main reason is that I want to see how some of the rookies this season are going to be. As a New Jersey Nets fan I want to see if Marshon Brooks can step in as a rookie and score like he did in college at Providence. Brooks dropped 52 on Notre Dame last year. Can he do that in the NBA?
As a NBA fan, I also want to see if Jimmer Fredette can score in the league like he did in college last year for BYU. I want to see if Derrick Williams is going to be as big a star as I think he will be. I'm also curious to see if Kyrie Irving can live up to being the first overall pick in the draft. Can Kemba Walker play in the NBA like he did last season in leading the UConn Huskies to the NCAA Championship?
And, of course, I want to see, like most fans do, whether LeBron James can go out and win his first NBA Championship this year. LeBron plays a ton of minutes each season, and having a shorter season might work to his advantage. The season will be compressed though, so playing a ton of minutes might still work against him. So can he do it in 2012?
Now that the NBA lockout is finally over, I'm going to be able to watch and get some answers to those questions. I'm also going to be able to see some of the greatest athletes in the world getting back to what they do best. Let's play some basketball!
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