The NBA announced it locked out its players at midnight Friday, and the gap between the two sides seems wide enough to cause ample concern about the length of next season, if there's a season at all.
While I never really worried about the NFL missing games because of the lockout due to the mass appeal of the league, and the revenue its generating, the NBA's lockout does concern me. We know David Stern will shut down part of the season in order to get a better deal for its teams and owners, which the league claims lost over $300 million last year, and 22 of the 30 teams were in the red. We saw him do it in 1998, which resulted in a shortened, 50-game schedule for the 1999 season.
Both lockouts don't interest me. There's too much legality I a) don't understand and b) am not interested in following that close.
The reason this NBA lockout scares me is because I don't know how far Stern is going to go to get a better collective bargaining agreement. Yahoo's lead NBA writer Adrian Wojnarowski writes it could cost the entire season. If an entire season is lost, all-time great players, like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James miss out on 82 games to add to each's career. Those two especially will be on many all-time lists. They will be short-changed in their career accomplishments due to the lockout. And, of course, the fans, who made the NBA a very popular attraction over the past few years.
The NFL needs to wrap up its lockout and get back to work so there isn't two of these things hanging over the fans' heads. After the NFL gets going, and gets back to being the No. 1 sports attraction in the country, the NBA needs to figure this thing out. I don't want to see a longer lockout than in 1999. That's as far as I'll go.
If the entire season is seriously threatened, start contracting teams. They can't lose money if they're not there. Drastic, but it might be necessary.
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