Could a 20-team league takedown the NBA?

[GeneWilderSTL]

Eastern Conference
Montreal, Long Island, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Baltimore
Louisville, Chicagoland, Tampa, Puerto Rico, Birmingham

Western Conference
St. Louis Kansas City Las Vegas Tulsa San Diego
Seattle Vancouver Mexico City Fresno Anaheim

TV Deal, NBC, NBC Sports Network, USA Network

Let's assume Larry Ellison buys in with the Anaheim team
Bill Laurie (Wal-Mart family) buys the St. Louis team
Magic Johnson - Las Vegas team
Buccaneers owner
Steelers owner
Ravens owner
Chiefs owner
Chargers owner
etc

What would it take to bring down the NBA? Ultimately if victorious we'd allow 8-10-12 NBA franchises in (Lakers Bulls Knicks Mavs Celtics Spurs Heat Rockets Sixers Pistons - that's really all the NBA is)

But as constituted could the above 20 team league bring down the NBA? Backed by Larry Ellison, the Wal-Mart fortune and various other sports owners?

I think so, if a number of things happened.
1. Land big free agents (Dwight, D-Will, Jeremy Lin)
2. No Rookie Wage Scale for the first 7 years - robbing the nba of its draft long enough to establish our league
3. no draft - negotiate with rookies as is
4. No Age Rule - Get projected top talent coming out of high school - again robbing the NBA of talent
5. No Salary cap

The NBA is only a 9 billion dollar business and Ellison is worth 26 Billion by himself.
Yeah if the NBA doesn't bring teams to St Louis and Seattle in 7 years I'd like to see a rival league come into the picture. The IBA - International Basketball Association

[GeneWilderSTL]

we'd also fund offshore stem cell research and allow players to get stem cell treatments ala bartolo colon.

[GeneWilderSTL]

We'd also get a better looking trophy - maybe a darker shade of gold though

[theman]

I think so, if a number of things happened.
1. Land big free agents (Dwight, D-Will, Jeremy Lin)
2. No Rookie Wage Scale for the first 7 years - robbing the nba of its draft long enough to establish our league
3. no draft - negotiate with rookies as is
4. No Age Rule - Get projected top talent coming out of high school - again robbing the NBA of talent
5. No Salary cap

The NBA is only a 9 billion dollar business and Ellison is worth 26 Billion by himself.
Yeah if the NBA doesn't bring teams to St Louis and Seattle in 7 years I'd like to see a rival league come into the picture. The IBA - International Basketball Association

No.

Rule #4 would help you but only marginally. The best talent would still go to the NBA but some my use your league as an alternative to the NCAA. Guys like Ellison are not into losing money.

They problem is to attract the talent you would need pay the players significantly more than they can make in the NBA. But the NBA already pays 50% of its revenues to the players. Your markets are smaller, your tv deal will be much smaller and your merchandise revenue will be much smaller. Therefore, you would be paying 80-90% for revenue to the players.

I know the ABA and AFL were semi-successful but those days were different. Sports were not the big business they are today. Your idea would go down like the USFL or maybe even the XFL.

[Meatcookie]

NBA already has everything in place. Fans and the top players. The fans will what to watch and pay a higher price for the top players, and the top players want to play for the most fans. Then the TV deals will follow the players and the fans. Trying to get those 3 things away from the NBA is pretty much impossible.

Would your new league be playing at the same time as the NBA season? Will they be fighting with the NFL, MLB, or NHL reg seasons or playoffs? What about during the Olympics?

USA already has NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Soccer, plus whatever else you want to add. Nobody will be jumping ship. Best you can do is challenge the NBADL.

And I'm not a wealthy person nor am I political player or a lawyer. But I can say that if the NBA ever felt threatened they WOULD NOT fight fairly to ruin your new venture.

[[RCG]]

What would be better is some sort of minor-league system through the d-league that allows teams to draft high school seniors who could then be assigned to the d-league team and still make money out of HS while he develops. Have a d-league affiliate for each team. Up d-league salaries and make it more like AAA-MLB than what it currently is.

[StopItDRose]

Well the USFL probably would have succeeded if they didn't stupidly attempt to go fall and sue the NFL. I think it'd be possible if this new league started in the Spring and went through into the Fall.