NBA officials do not see a shortened season as a thing for the future - NBA Update
Even though the viewer ships and the television ratings have been up in the shortened format of the season, however NBA officials do not see the short length season of 66 games as a thing for the future.
Deputy Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver describes the shortened season as not the best option to consider in the long as it only brings extra strain and work both for the management and the players.
"If you cut the season shorter, we cut our revenues significantly as well. Players would make less, so no, and I think it's not optimal to play a condensed season in this fashion," - he said Thursday.
He further went on to describe the short season as the only option they had as the lock-out was extended till the Thanksgiving weekend. He further elaborated on the matter that both parties saw it as the best option to make use
of the short amount of time they had, as they agreed to make it a 66 game season, with every team looking to play an extra two games, every month.
"I think both we and the players' union recognized that going in, but it was a compromise on both our parts to maximize the amount of salary players would get this season and to have as authentic a season as possible, sufficient
number of games for competitive reasons." – Silver said.
He did however express concern about the fatigue level that the players had to go through this season because of the tight schedule. There have been some teams which have had to play back-to-back-to-back games more than once this
season.
Even though the top athletes who apply their trait in the NBA haven’t had that big of a problem with the schedule considering the fact that the injuries have been far less than predicted and have been around the same if your compare
the injuries to a regular game season. Silver, however was still not much in favour of the shortened format.
"I think it's turned out OK," Silver said, "but again, we prefer the 82-game season to the 66-game season." – Silver said.
The shortened format might have resulted in the NBA losing some ground financially. However, they did the best job possible in making it work, in order for the fans to enjoy their favourite teams playing. With only a few games
remaining in the season as teams gear up for the playoffs, NBA Commissioner, David Stern described the current season as a "barnburner of a season" recently and it certainly has been one h**l of a ride.
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