Impending Doom for the NBA in 2011

Great, Bill Simmons is predicting a lockout for the 2011-12 NBA season. Before jumping into the issues, let's review the facts. The current agreement between NBA owners and the players will expire at the end of the 2010-11 season, and unless they get a new agreement in place, a lockout will happen. Horrible news for NBA fans.

Simmons makes some great points about how to improve the system, to align the incentives of the owners with that of the fans. Right now, there are so many loopholes within the system such that the NBA can get away with mistreating fans. Their biggest cash cows outside of TV income is from season ticket holders willing to pay for 41 games in advance, and the corporate fat cats who gobble up luxury suites. While there is a correlation between making the playoffs and income, once the team is in the lottery, it's as if they fall off the cliff. They'd rather be at the bottom of the record standings than finish number 9. What this translates to is poor fans being stuck watching crappy teams and praying for the next Blake Griffin to land in their laps, and even that doesn't always work out (see Clippers.)

Despite all the good ideas out there, I still don't see the NBA owners making enough changes to improve the product for fans. At the end of the day, they only want to make profits for themselves, and they won't hesitate to make the players look bad, portraying them as spoiled millionaires. We love the players because they are the best at what they do, play the game. Most of them aren't very skilled at managing their own finances, which is what put them at the owners' mercy during the last lockout. It's up to the league and the owners to figure out how to create a system where it's win-win-win for fans, players, and owners.

The ideal would be a group of players with charisma and star power to set up and educate the fans on the facts, make proposals, and ask for the fans to demand something better from the league. That and me finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Gosh I dread the upcoming lockout for my favorite sport, even if it's a year away. Thank goodness for hockey, baseball, football, soccer...