Amar’e Stoudemire says players can start their own league if the next NBA season is cancelled
The NBA players are considering to start their own league, and could very well do so in the near future, if negotiations with the NBA owners continue to go downhill. This warning laden message was delivered by the New York Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire recently.
The NBA and the players have not been able to come to an agreement over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The result is that, the lockout which started on July 1st is set to enter its fourth month and with each passing day, it is becoming a serious threat to the next NBA season.
The worst part however is that with outstanding differences on almost every issue, a deal between the two sides does not look any closer now than when it did in July.
The NBA season that was slated to begin on November 1 has now been delayed, at least by two weeks, and could be cancelled forth right if a consensus is not developed soon.
So what are the players going to do about?
They don’t look like bowing down to the owners; hence they have devised a new plan. Start a league of their own.
"Obviously we're trying to ... get this lockout resolved. We want to play NBA basketball. But if it doesn't happen what are we gonna do? We can't just sit around and not do anything. So we have to figure out ways to now continue to play basketball at a high level against top competition and have fun doing it. So, that's the next step," Stoudemire said Tuesday night according to ESPN.
The NBA players are not what you would call bare to the bones athletes. They are wealthy individual and business owners. Over the years, with the explosion of basketball as a global game and the huge amounts of money that it has brought, the players have gotten pretty rich themselves. Therefore, they have the means to do it.
But do they have the will?
Yes, according to Stoudemire, who says the idea has already been discussed.
"It's very, very serious. It's just a matter of us strategically coming up with a plan, a blueprint and putting it together," the Knicks power forward said. "So we'll see how this lockout goes. If it goes one or two years, then we've got to start our own league."
If the players, and the National Basketball Players Association, really are serious about the idea and have indeed discussed it formally, then the news could set the alarm bells ringing for the NBA owners. The NBA has become a money spinning enterprise for both parties, even though the owners will tell you they suffered losses of $300 million.
What they won’t tell you is that they stand to lose upwards of around $1.5 billion, at least, in lost revenues if the season is cancelled.
Imagine what would happen if the whole league was to crash.
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