Ending the NBA Lockout: A Win-Win for the Players

     When news first broke about Deron Williams heading over to Europe to play ball during the NBA lockout, I just passed it off as a player wanting to play and make some money. After thinking about it, I'm beginning to wonder if he unlocked the answer to saving the players' goal of preventing the implementation of a hard cap and non-guaranteed contracts.
     If you think about which NBA superstars are the league's "money-makers", these same players are also the ones helping shoe, soft drink, and various other companies make a ton of money as well. Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are the first two players who come to mind. The NBA pumps their name and likeness all over the world to help brand the NBA and generate revenue for the league. The NBA absolutely needs these players to be able to generate revenue regardless of the costs associated with running a professional sports league/team. Do the players need the NBA to make money? No, the players simply need to play basketball in a market large enough for their sponsors to earn enough return on their investment in the player. Herein lies the sweet justice for the players, and the possibility of a silver bullet for the NBA owner's dream of a hard cap era.
     Imagine a world where the two or three best players from each NBA team went to Asia to play basketball. We know how crazy China is for NBA-caliber basketball as evidenced by the hysteria surrounding team USA in the 2008 Olympics, and the fact that Yao Ming somehow never missed an All-Star game while hardly ever being able to not miss a game during a full season. It can safely be said that if China chose to embrace this exodus of talent, and improve the infrastructure to facilitate an elite professional sports league, the tables would shift in favor of the players in the current lockout. With the top 30% of NBA talent gone, the American market would either continue to watch the bottom 70% talent (Mario Chalmers' Heat squares off against Matt Bonner's Spurs!!), or they would seek out a way to watch the elite players play in Asia. Would ESPN not jump at the chance to get in on the ground level for this new league, in this MASSIVE market? Would Americans with their DVRs and more disposable income (now that they don't have to pay $200 for tickets, $20 for a dog and a beer, and $10 for parking) pay to watch this? My gut says yes. The downside for the players involves the cultural adjustment, the moving, the family issues, and the chance of getting injured. But at the same time, they're going to be making a paycheck both from basketball and from their continued presence in the sport which turns into dollars from their sponsoring companies.
     Now comes the interesting part, can Billy Hunter and the players jump on this opportunity? I'm not quite certain the NBA Players' Union was crafty enough to come up with this solution (if they are, more power to you), but the solution is there and needs to be taken. The Union is there to protect the interests of all the players, which means this solution wouldn't apply to the Timberwolves' 12th man in the short term; long-term is a different story. The Union should organized a uniform contract/insurance plan for any player who wants to play outside of the NBA, so that each player has the opportunity to go play abroad and maximizes the negative impact on the current NBA owners. Doing so would not only put the NBAPA in the driver's seat come negotiation time, but it would also allow the players to continue play ball if a settlement isn't met and make some cash as well. If the owners want to play hard ball, the players should just play ball.

New European Tour Logo Design

With all the talk about incorporating Seve Ballesteros' images into a new European Tour logo, I decided to spend a rainy morning with MSPaint and MSPublisher and have at it. I know it's rudimentary, but with only two free tools to work with, I think the design is there it just needs a sweet program to pretty it up. Thanks for looking!

Salary Cap Systems & The NBA

I've spent the past several weeks looking at the different types of salary cap systems being proposed for the next NBA collective bargaining agreement. It was for my law and economics class and is finally finished. I think it provides a different perspective on the issue because I look at how each system interacts with the five relevant purposes of contract law and efficiency from a contract law perspective. If you have a spare moment or two, you can check it out below. Thanks again for looking at my blog, and I hope to provide my take on some of the topics I mentioned in my previous post. Enjoy your day!


Law & Econ Analysis on Salary Cap Systems---Fixed link

My Apologies

Sorry for the lack of posts since the creation of the site. I've been busy working on too many projects. I've completed my report on the efficiency of the two salary caps being proposed in the NBA collective bargaining process. If you're interested in reading it let me know, and I'll get you a copy. Items to be discussed on here in a future date:

1. Fix for the Royals
2. Salary Caps & Expansion
3. Should professional sports owners look at their teams as a business if they want to make money
4. Statistics and the flawed notion that they're the best signals in contract negotiations

Thanks again for stopping by, and I hope to have some new material up in the next few months....

College Football Playoff System

Here is my solution to solving the lack of a definitive national champion in college football. The system makes the regular season important because if you win your division you're in the playoffs. There are at least three off weeks for every team to address injuries and academics. None of the bowl games are gone, none of the money to the schools are gone, and most importantly, if a team goes undefeated for the season they are guaranteed to be the sole champion.

Facts:
 1)  There are 120 teams in Division 1 FBS football.
2)  There is a 17 week schedule for Division 1 FBS football.
3)  There is too much uncertainty about who is the champ for the year.
4)  Can't do playoffs because of the awesome bowl system and $$$.

Fixes:
1)  Get rid of the modern day conferences and create 12 pods of 10 teams based on geographical location.
            a. You will lose SOME rivalry games but I think most would be willing to sacrifice.
2)  Play each team in your pod once. Winner of each pod automatically advances to the playoffs (12 teams).
3)  Selection committee selects the remaining four teams based on play and tv ratings.
4)  16 team playoffs. See the schedule/bowls below.

Schedule:

• Week 1: Game 1
• Week 2: Game 2
• Week 3: Game 3
• Week 4: Game 4
• Week 5: Off Week
• Week 6: Game 5
• Week 7: Game 6
• Week 8: Game 7
• Week 9: Game 8
• Week 10: Game 9
• Week 11: Off Week
• Week 12: Sweet 16
• Week 13: Elite 8
• Week 14: Final Four
• Week 15: Off Week for Finals
• Week 16 (Week between Christmas & New Years): Bowl week for the other bowl eligible schools
• Week 17: National Championship

Impact on Bowls:
     Bowl selection is based on tradition and age of bowl game. The newer bowls that lack the tradition would be utilized for those bowl eligible teams who don't make the playoffs. Whereas, the history rich bowls would be used for the national championship playoffs.

Playoff Bowl Games
National Championship Game: BCS National Championship
Final Four: Orange and Rose Bowls
Elite Eight: Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, and Sun Bowls
Sweet Sixteen: Gator, Citrus, Liberty, Peach, Independence, Holiday, Hall of Fame, and Copper Bowls.

Remaining Bowl Games

• Tangerine
• Las Vegas
• Alamo
• Motor City
• Humanitarian
• Music City
• Mobile
• New Orleans
• San Francisco
• Hawi'i
• Charlotte
• Armed Forces
• Poinsettia
• Compass
• New Mexico
• Texas
• Military
• St. Petersburg
• Pinstripe
• Ticketcity

Boom.

Welcome!

I'm currently busy with finishing law school, so posts may be sporadic until May 14th gets here. I will be analyzing and posting thoughts and questions for discussion specifically about the business aspects of professional sports. Most of the posts will relate to current events, and my take on what it means. In the mean time, please bookmark this place, and check back soon!


Thanks,
Mike