Comparison between NBA and NFL lockouts – Labour Dispute Special Report (Part 2)
In the lockout, the owners are looking to introduce whole scale changes in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The league has the right to impose the lockout till the time no agreement is reached.
During a lockout players do not get health insurance, while those who opt for the free agency market cannot sign a deal with any team.
In NBA, many people believe that the regular season might be affected because if the lockout, but people used to say the same about the NFL. The lockout in NBA is just three weeks old, while in NFL it’s been prevailing for quite
a few months now. With the regular season looming large, NFL made significant progress in their previous meetings and the issue eventually got solved on Monday.
The previous week was rife with rumours that NFL owners and players are almost on the verge of concluding the new deal and now they have saved the regular season.
In NFL, regular season starts early in September, while in NBA the regular-season begins from late October and so far no meeting has taken place between the owners and the players union. In order to resume the activities again
before it gets too late, both players and owner should resume talks.
The NBA owners have shared financial detail of the franchises with the players union from the very outset, so that later on there would not be any issues regarding the authenticity of the record. In contrast to NBA, the NFL players
never got a good insight on the financial records of their respective franchises. Still, they were able to reach an agreement.
As far as consideration of the overseas options is concerned NFL players didn’t have much. American Football is played only in USA and there was no alternative option for players to turn to. However, players in NBA have several
options of playing abroad. Besides national team engagements, there is a bevy of options to play in Europe, China or beyond.
However, there are few issues for the NBA players looking at Europe. One, they do not offer very attractive contracts and secondly they are rigid in terms of their roster rotation policies. The NBA players would not get more minutes
in the game and Europeans are not ready to waste a huge amount on the bench stars.
In this scenario China is the best option for NBA players, as they can afford such stars. In addition to that their criteria of selection is also flexible, for them participation in playoffs means a lot. Therefore, more and more
stars are everyday looking to play in China.
On top of it, players association has declared that they will support every player, who is looking to take his talents overseas. If in case governing bodies of basketball NBA or FIBA tried to halt their way the association is ready
to challenge any such action in the court of law.
There are lot of similarities between the two lockouts, but it remains to be seen whether NBA will follow NFL’s eventual path and save the regular season or not.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent Bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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