Who's to blame for the lockout?

[nickagneta]

So which do you think is most responsible for this lockout?

[Fafnir]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

[StartOrien]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Pretty sure that's only percentage wise.

[Fafnir]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Pretty sure that's only percentage wise.

Well yeah, how else would you measure how fast costs are rising?

[nickagneta]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Absolutely true. Right now player salary expenses are right in line with the other 3 major American sports, which by all accounts are profitable ventures as a whole.

I really doubt the financials the NBA teams are throwing out there and believe while a large portion of NBA teams are not making money, that the league as a whole is. I also believe that the amount of money that the majority of teams that are not making money is actually quite small on a yearly basis. I think revenue sharing and a minor give back by the players(57% to 54%, lower maximum raises per year, less years on guaranteed contracts) should fix things.

[Mike-Dub]

I'm putting my own category.  Both but 60-40 with owners more to blame. 

And the last option I don't agree with at all.  NBA has passed the MLB.  If anything it is the NHL CBA that they are jealous of.

All of the above is another option I would choose.

[StartOrien]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Absolutely true. Right now player salary expenses are right in line with the other 3 major American sports, which by all accounts are profitable ventures as a whole.

I really doubt the financials the NBA teams are throwing out there and believe while a large portion of NBA teams are not making money, that the league as a whole is. I also believe that the amount of money that the majority of teams that are not making money is actually quite small on a yearly basis. I think revenue sharing and a minor give back by the players(57% to 54%, lower maximum raises per year, less years on guaranteed contracts) should fix things.

I think we're all kind of citing the same NATE Silver article. While I think it was good, I think there's a lot more wrong w/ the system:

I think at the end of the day I tend to fault the guaranteed contracts and revenue sharing more than anything else. Two issues that really make life for the small and mid market teams VERY challenging.

Under the current system these small market teams can't afford to have a misstep, but still have to find a way to keep up interest in their team with seemingly minimal financial security via revenue sharing.

[StartOrien]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Pretty sure that's only percentage wise.

Well yeah, how else would you measure how fast costs are rising?

Percentages are one thing, I think the actual dollar amount spent is a lot more telling.

Personally, I think it's a growing trend because owners believe increasing that kind of spending will allow them to decrease spending in other areas, or bring more revenue back. Kind of the Tampa Bay Rays model that Jonah Keri wrote 'the extra 2%' about.

[Fafnir]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Pretty sure that's only percentage wise.

Well yeah, how else would you measure how fast costs are rising?

Percentages are one thing, I think the actual dollar amount spent is a lot more telling.

How so? You can have a budge that grow .1% year to year have a larger "growth" than a much smaller one that grows by 8%. Which would be an alarming trend if you're planning for the future?

[Roy H.]

And the last option I don't agree with at all.  NBA has passed the MLB.  If anything it is the NHL CBA that they are jealous of.

MLB brought in something like $500 million in profits last year, though.  The NBA, depending on who you believed, either made around $150 million or lost $300 million.  Either way, the NBA business model is working worse than baseball's, salary cap or not.

In terms of who I blame...  I'd say a healthy mix of capitalism (players and owners both want to maximize income) + stupidity of owners in handing out bad contracts + a flawed league structure where not enough is done to share revenues.

[StartOrien]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Pretty sure that's only percentage wise.

Well yeah, how else would you measure how fast costs are rising?

Percentages are one thing, I think the actual dollar amount spent is a lot more telling.

How so? You can have a budge that grow .1% year to year have a larger "growth" than a much smaller one that grows by 8%. Which would be an alarming trend if you're planning for the future?

It depends how much money is behind each.

If I'm talking about a gazillion dollars growing at .1% and my snack budget is growing by 8% I'm probably more concerned about the first.

[Chris]

Well, I think it was the owners for giving in too easily last time.  As soon as the last CBA was signed, this lockout was innevitable.

[StartOrien]

Owners have let non-player expenses to rise faster than healtcare costs and have also had turnover occur with new faces wanting a better ROI based on their inflated purchase prices.

That's the core of the problem facing the NBA today.

Absolutely true. Right now player salary expenses are right in line with the other 3 major American sports, which by all accounts are profitable ventures as a whole.

I really doubt the financials the NBA teams are throwing out there and believe while a large portion of NBA teams are not making money, that the league as a whole is. I also believe that the amount of money that the majority of teams that are not making money is actually quite small on a yearly basis. I think revenue sharing and a minor give back by the players(57% to 54%, lower maximum raises per year, less years on guaranteed contracts) should fix things.

I disagree. This system is just not right.

As the article rightfully points out, right now the NBA revenue is in line with the NHL which is absolutely insane. There's just no way that the two should be even remotely close

[MBz]

I'm going to say the owners are to blame.  The owners made too many bad decisions when handing out contracts.  Regardless of the bad moves by owners, the contracts are too large and the players are too selfish.  I don't mind the length so much, I think that is ideal, but these guys make way too much money.  Regardless of whether or not teams made or lost money, the players should not get 57% of the income.  It's just too high.  It's the owners that are risking their money to run the team.  If a team sucks, and they own the arena as well, their ticket sales slip, which causes concessions and merchandise sales to slip, but the players salaries don't.  Now sure, some times if the team sucks it's the owner's fault, but still it is their money which they are spending, they should be getting at least 50% of the income.

[MBz]

yikes delete this please? double post.