Comparisons between NBA and NFL lockouts - Labour Dispute Special Report (Part 1)
With the National Football League (NFL), finally reaching a compromise with its players, it has good time to have a look back at what were the issues that resulted in the NFL deadlock and how does it compare with the lockout that
is currently prevalent in NBA. The two major leagues of USA have been locked out at the same time, just once before. History however repeated itself another time in 2011. First, the National Football League declared the lockout in March and few months later
National Basketball Association followed their lead and locked out its players.
Here is the comparison between the lockouts of the two leagues:
NBA forced the lockout after the franchise owners and players union failed to reach a consensus over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement or CBA. Both parties were found miles apart over the new agreement. Therefore at the expiry
of the previous CBA on June 30 midnight, the league locked out the players.
In NFL, the situation was not much different. However, NFL Players Association had a very strong stance and they were ready right from the beginning to drag the matter into court in order to obtain a legal outcome. After the NFL
imposed the lockout, players union 'decertified' and from there onwards, which meant that they were willing not take part in any new collective bargaining deal between the league and players. This pushed the matter into court and things started getting worse,
as both sides showed zero tolerance.
The union had said, "Any agreement reached from this point forward with the NFL will be as a result of the court system, not a collective bargaining agreement."
In comparison to them, NBA players association and league’s representatives reiterated on number of occasions they would not end up in court like NFL. However, few players and top line agents have reportedly urged both Derek Fisher,
president of the union, and Billy Hunter the executive director, to decertify and take the matter into court. The duo is however is still optimistic and believes that they can reach an agreement with the league through negotiations.
The dispute in both league arose over the revenues. According to the owners of NBA, the old CBA was not providing them adequate profits. Recession played it’s part too and it became difficult for the owners to allocate separate
funds for building and improving stadiums and arenas.
To sort the issue, NBA owners gave their suggestions that involved cutting the players’ salaries and offer them short and unguaranteed contracts in future with hard salary cap in order to reduce the loss. Players did not agree
to it naturally.
Fisher had a very terse response “it’s not the employees’ job to guarantee the league is lucrative”.
On the other hand NFL was not in loss like NBA, but still the owners were not satisfied with their earnings. They were off the opinion that the division of the revenues were not fair in the previous contract.
Although with the economy still recovering from one of the worst recessions in recent years, both NBA and NFL saw decent increase in the sales of tickets and merchandises in the previous seasons. But for them that was not good
enough.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said, "We had a great year in terms of the appreciation of our fans for our game. It just wasn't a profitable one for the owners, and it wasn't one that many of the smaller market teams particularly
enjoyed or felt included in. The goal here has been to make the league profitable and to have a league where all 30 teams can compete."
In this regard, owners defend themselves by saying that they suffered huge losses in the previous contract and that the current rise in the earnings did not disturbed the previous deficit.
Continued in part-2
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent Bettor.com’s editorial policy.
Tags: