Chinese Basketball Association puts a ban on the opt-out clause in the NBA players’ contracts
After weeks of speculation, the Chinese Basketball Association has finally made it official and has banned the opt-out clause in the contracts of the foreign imports. The development took place in a Chinese officials meeting on Friday.
With the official approval of this rule, the prospect of the National Basketball Association (NBA) players featuring in the Chinese teams this fall has dwindled significantly. According to the FIBA ruling, the contracted NBA players can only play in the foreign league during the lockout, if they include an opt-out clause in their contracts. The escape clause so to say, will allow the players to be available for their NBA franchises as soon as the lockout is lifted.
According to the new rule the Chinese teams cannot hire American players, who are under contract in NBA. CBA has in fact issued a list of 108 NBA free agents, who can sign contracts with the Chinese teams. This list has been introduced to prevent the Chinese teams from using the handshake agreement with the NBA players and drop them when the lockout settles down. The handshake agreement was seen by many analysts as a way to counter the ban on the opt-out clause for American players.
This means that the Chinese fans wouldn’t get to see the megastars like Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki. Prior to this new rule, reports came in that Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe might join Chinese team Shanxi Zhongyu right from the start of the next season, in case the players union and league remained undecided over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
This development, although beneficial for the Chinese league in the longer run, does have its drawbacks. The inclusion of the NBA stars in the Chinese league would have boosted the sales of the tickets, merchandises, TV ratings and the profile of the association. This would have also attracted more brands for the sponsorship. As far as the monetary side of the things are concerned, the Chinese Basketball Association would have gained a lot from NBA players’ inclusion.
However, the CBA which is indirectly run by the Chinese government thinks otherwise. The reason why CBA had implemented the rule is that signing the NBA stars with an out-clause would affect the league in a pretty bad manner and will put their season in jeopardy. This is an issue, the Chinese are not willing to compromise on.
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