Charlotte Bobcats start downsizing in the face of NBA Lockout
The National Basketball Association (NBA) lockout has started showing its ugly effects. In the previous week, Michael Jordan owned Charlotte Bobcats reportedly fired a number of their employees, including their long time radio announcer Scott Lauer.
An optimistic Lauer however said, "They just told me it was an organizational restructuring and my position has been eliminated. I still feel that once games begin that I'll be broadcasting games again for them. I'm under that impression, but there is certainly no guarantee in that one way or the other."
Charlotte is one of the two teams in NBA that has started firing their employees, just two weeks into the lockout, in order to cut their expenses. While everybody is going gaga about how the players will lose their livelihood and might face a financial crunch, if the lockout persists for long, it is actually the franchise employees who are bearing the brunt of the dispute between the owners and the players.
The league owners are seeking a lion share of the basketball related income in new Collective Bargaining Agreement and have cited financial losses as the main reason for the change. The players and their unions however dispute their claim and are not willing to agree to the owner biased terms.
The players have openly said that they will not surrender an inch and this latest move indicates the firmness of the owners on their stance. The owners are not showing any leniency and are ready to survive the lockout by cutting their expenses, even if it comes to reducing their long serving staff members.
Lauer, who had spent seven seasons with the Bobcats, said, "I think that's where it's a shame, where the everyday employees of these teams are caught in the middle of it. Ultimately, I'm just concerned with the well-being of my family and how they're going to handle this. I don't want them to suffer in any way."
Jordan was not available for the comment; however a team spokesman told that they have fired not more than 10 staff members and declined to comment further by saying, "We don't discuss personnel matters."
According to the NBA financial reports, Jordan’s Charlotte is one of the 22 teams of the league that are in red zone and facing huge losses. Other prominent employees, who were released from their duties by the Bobcats, include Kim Beal (manager of community relations), Michael Thompson (director of corporate communications).
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