Stern: NBA wants to drop player costs by ONE-THIRD

There are a surplus of arenas in almost every major market. Boston has both the Centrum in Worcester, the Manchester, N.H. arena and the Providence Civic Center, just for one example. Money hungry colleges (is there any other kind?) would also be candidates for renting out their basketball venues.

 

true. top D1 teams have arenas similar to the NBA, not the same luxury boxes and amenities but they could hold games there. the NBA seems to play a bunch of preseason games in places like Toledo, Worcester, Providence.

 

Agreed. There are places for a players league to play. However, access to the really top-shelf arenas is not a guarantee. The arena in Manchester NH may be nice; it is NOT The Garden. In Philly, the Spectrum is still standing and could host basketball again;and the Palestra works for basketball - - but they are the JV facilities in town by a pretty wide margin.

I am not saying this would prevent a players' league from working; I am saying that this is a significant hurdle any such fledgling league would have to get over.

 

So with no NBA and no NFL next season, I'm really going to have to start following that MLS.

 

You've already stated you've stopped following the NBA and MLB. One because of nerds and one because of Stern. So i guess it'll be only football you'll be missing.

 

Almost all NBA franchises have complete operational control of their arenas, except those co-owned with NHL franchises. There are only a couple exceptions.

The NBA pretty much insists upon it. First of all so the NBA franchise gets most (or all) of the revenues from concerts, etc etc. but another reason is to preemptively abort the formation of any hypothetical future competing league.

 

More assholery from Stern. He's threatening contraction of teams as part of his negotiations:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/David-Stern-concedes-that-NBA-contraction-could-be-on-table-102210

The money quote: "Asked if contraction should be a chilling word in Memphis, Stern said: ''No, it shouldn't be. It's a good word to use, especially in collective bargaining.'' "

Yep, let's scare the fans by threatening to take away their teams by using them as a bargaining chip. Then again, Seattle fans know he means what he says.

 

The NBA obviously needs a salary cap.

 

They've got one, but the Lakers keep winning championships. Hmm.

 

The problem with the NBA's salary cap is that there is also an individual player max that is way, way below the market value of the elite players.

 

If Stern and the NBA owners were serious about contraction and decreasing player contracts they should name Isaiah Thomas as the new commissioner. He could destroy the league as it currently stands within 2 years

 

ummm, they've had one since 1985.