It’s getting tough out there to be rich these days. Not that I would know what that feels like, as one might gather from my name. Just look around: There’s a growing number of folks calling themselves the “99 Percent” and occupying just about every place in town with a Port-o-Potty or public restroom within walking distance, to heap their displeasure on the ones at the top.
Pink Floyd once sang, in the song Us and Them, “With, without/And who’ll deny, it’s what the fighting’s all about.” The sentiment has never been more appropriate than in 2011, where the idea of redistributing the wealth has permeated the culture at all levels.
This year, we’ve had strikes, near-strikes, and protests over employee wages, health benefits, and pensions. There’s been a resolved lockout in the National Football League caused by labor squabbles, and now, the National Basketball Association has followed suit.
If the NFL’s lockout was 60 Minutes, the NBA’s is an episode of The Jerry Springer Show. It’s been going on since July; NBA Commissioner David Stern has already cancelled the first two weeks of the season—and is threatening more.
“We remain very, very far apart on virtually all issues,” Stern ominously said during an Oct. 15 interview with other media. “We just have a gulf that separates us. We are so far apart, we can’t close the gap.”
The Grand Canyon of Greed separating the players and owners opened wide over the summer, when the owners decided they wanted dramatic changes to the structure of league revenue disbursement. They say the proposal is aimed at promoting greater competitiveness and solving the NBA’s increasing haves vs. have-nots problem.
Under their old contract, the players received 57 percent of the roughly $4 billion the league rakes in annually, which Stern says is no longer practical for the league to stay afloat. Travel is more expensive, he says, and demand for the sport is down, though last season was one of the NBA’s highest-rated ever in terms of television viewers.
In negotiations, the players have offered to bump their cut down to 53 percent, while the owners are suggesting they go halfsies on it. Therein lies the crux of contention, and things are looking grim, because the players are lining up steadfast against an even split. Issues of contract lengths, player salaries, and luxury taxes are also sticking points with no end in sight.
The situation is so dire, the union is already warning its players to prepare for the possibility the league will cancel the 2011-12 season altogether, which has never happened in the league’s history. The last time a lockout occurred was 1998, when the season was reduced from the regular 82-game schedule to 50. It took years to win the frustrated fans back, and maybe some never tuned in again.
This time around, there are only a few glimmers of hope that there will be any pro basketball played into 2012. As of press time on Oct. 18, both sides were continuing to meet with federal mediator George Cohen, in the hopes of hammering out a deal. If there’s no progress made in those talks, it’s likely the season will be cancelled until at least January. And if that happens, odds are good it will be forgone entirely, as both sides appear firmly entrenched for the long haul.
Union player representative and Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher told reporters he’d love to give some money back to the owners if it meant the league would lower ticket prices and create better pay and working conditions for vendors, but that’s not the case, he says: “What’s going on is just a giveback to our owners with no purpose or connection to lessening ticket prices or lessening parking prices or lessening anything, it’s only lessening percentage for us and increasing percentage for them.”
Oh, snap.
So with the possibility of an extended vacation without pay looming for the players, some are taking matters into their own hands, taking part in exhibition games and playing in spontaneous schoolyard contests in their respective hometowns, just like players from the past did back in the day.
New York Knicks power forward Amar’e Stoudemire went back to school at Florida International University, and has suggested the players start their own league. Boston Celtics guard Delonte West, a free agent, went a step further, getting a stocking job at a furniture store in Washington D.C., posting photos of himself at his new job on Twitter as proof to the unbelievers.
Perhaps the players should just take the court for charity’s sake this year, keeping the fans on their side while the league’s owners continue looking like the bad guys. Sports fans are already tired of hearing about labor disputes, and with the NFL season in full gear, and the NHL hockey season just kicking off, many may not even notice or care once basketball actually does start up again, if it ever does, until after the Super Bowl. By then, maybe we’ll be seeing an inrush in the workforce of seven-foot-tall dishwashers and insurance salesmen, just trying to get by like the rest of us.
But what do I know? I’m just a bum. And that’s my view from the bleachers.
The Bleacher Bum builds his Ivory towers out of 99-percent pure soap for the unwashed masses to use freely. He can be contacted at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 20-27, 2011.