European Salaries Are Catching Up To NBA

[Lakers_4_Life]

Between the ref scandal, the horribly weak dollar, and the amazingly exploding budgets of the big Euroleague clubs I think the NBA will very soon (maybe 2-3 years from now or so) be the #2 league in the basketball world to the Euroleague.

Look at these budgets for the 5 richest Euroleague clubs set for next year by their boards:

Euroleague 2008-09 budgets:

Spanish League:

Real Madrid €25 million ($39 million US)
Barcelona €30 million ($46 million US)

Russian League:

CSKA Moscow €39 million ($60 million US)

Greek League:

Panathinaikos Athens €30 million ($46 million US)
Olympiacos Athens €35 million ($54 million US)


Let's just think here for a second. NBA image and rep destroyed by the ref scandal and Don Sterneone. Then you have the dollar getting weaker daily, which just keeps making the Euroleague's richest clubs that pay in euros that much more attractive, then on top of that you have exploding player salaries in Europe.

Like Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in Greece. In 2004 Olympiacos paid out €2 million ($3 million US) in salary and Panathinaikos paid out €4 million ($6 million US) in salary. And look at how much in 5 years their budgets exploded. It's crazy. These rich Euroleague clubs suddenly can compete with the NBA in salary, every year bigger and bigger contracts over there.

I think it's clear that the NBA's days as the premiere basketball league are rapidly coming to an end.

[Cevap]

[Alyosha12]

Between the ref scandal, the horribly weak dollar, and the amazingly exploding budgets of the big Euroleague clubs I think the NBA will very soon (maybe 2-3 years from now or so) be the #2 league in the basketball world to the Euroleague.

Look at these budgets for the 5 richest Euroleague clubs set for next year by their boards:

Euroleague 2008-09 budgets:

Spanish League:

Real Madrid €25 million ($39 million US)
Barcelona €25 million ($39 million US)

Russian League:

CSKA Moscow €35 million ($54 million US)

Greek League:

Panathinaikos Athens €30 million ($46 million US)
Olympiacos Athens €35 million ($54 million US)


Let's just think here for a second. NBA image and rep destroyed by the ref scandal and Don Sterneone. Then you have the dollar getting weaker daily, which just keeps making the Euroleague's richest clubs that pay in euros that much more attractive, then on top of that you have exploding player salaries in Europe.

Like Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in Greece. In 2004 Olympiacos paid out €2 million ($3 million US) in salary and Panathinaikos paid out €4 million ($6 million US) in salary. And look at how much in 5 years their budgets exploded. It's crazy. These rich Euroleague clubs suddenly can compete with the NBA in salary, every year bigger and bigger contracts over there.

I think it's clear that the NBA's days as the premiere basketball league are rapidly coming to an end.

And lets not forget all those ,umbers are after taxes, its the net pay that theplayers get, so in reality its 4mill euro = $12mill per etc.

[FNQ]

Never will happen. NBA will remain the premier league until it folds, if ever.

Its as simple as the market... the US is the headliner. We get a lot of attention, and basketball has become a huge part of our culture. The big money will always be in the US...

Basically, for this to all work out, the US would have to go into a depression, at which point, the NBA would be the least of our concerns...

[KB20]

Never will happen. NBA will remain the premier league until it folds, if ever.

Its as simple as the market... the US is the headliner. We get a lot of attention, and basketball has become a huge part of our culture. The big money will always be in the US...

Basically, for this to all work out, the US would have to go into a depression, at which point, the NBA would be the least of our concerns...

+1

[NothingButNet]

But as Americans, we'll ignore this fact and continue saying that the NBA is #1.

[Flite]

Unless the Euro league can offer double what the NBA can - which realisticalyl will never happen, the NBA will remain number one. If the best players are in America, and these guys aren't even sold on playing in Canada, what makes you think they'll head off to Europe? They could if the price was right, but that price would have to be through the roof, an offer they can't reject.

[BMiller52]

It won't happen as long as the world's marquee players like KG, Kobe, Lebron, Pierce, Melo, Dirk, etc. play in the US. Players are going to go where the competition is best because they want to play in the league with the best players. You don't play basketball for your whole life and reach your dream and then defect to an overseas league for more money all of a sudden IMO.

However, it could be a reason why a clown like Starbury wants to go play in Italy in a few years.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I don't think that those teams generate the revenues to justify those kind of salaries, actually, there are just several owners willing to overspend. There's not enough interest in basketball at this point imo.

Overtaking the NBA might be a huge reach, but it could happen that the whole CBA system could be compromised by Euro teams offering big money to players w/out bird rights, in the rookie scale or just looking for different options.

To really challenge the NBA we'd need more and basketball fans all over the continent, particularly in UK, France and Germany, but it's not going to happen overnight.

[Lakers_4_Life]

People here saying this "will never happen" don't even realize those salaries are NET. NBA salaries are gross. You do the math on what that would mean to players paychecks. People can act superior all they want, but the Euroleague is now at least on par with the old ABA. However the difference is the NBA took over the ABA and the opposite is happening here IMO.

The Euroleague is now getting more viewers on TV in Europe than the NBA is. It's also receiving more web traffic to euroleague.net than the NBA is to nba.com. On top of that Euroleague teams can now pay more to ALL rookies than the NBA can. Players like Nikola Pekovic coming up in this draft and getting MORE money than the #1 draft pick will get, etc.

It's obvious right now most people posting in this thread are not paying attention. There's a huge trend down for the NBA and a huge trend up for the Euroleague in the last couple of years.

[Blame Rasho]

You have also said that VSpan was the greatest thing since sliced bread... so forgive us if we doubt your biased opinion.

The fact is that no established NBA star is going to go overseas and play and that is why it(NBA) is still the "premiere basketball league" in the world.

[Lakers_4_Life]

You have also said that VSpan was the greatest thing since sliced bread... so forgive us if we doubt your biased opinion.

The fact is that no established NBA star is going to go overseas and play and that is why it(NBA) is still the "premiere basketball league" in the world.

You are not using logic. I am saying based on the trend the last 2 years, project this out for another 3 years and the NBA will be #2. And this argument about who plays in the NBA will mean nothing. Because in 3 years most all of the stars being mentioned will be over the hill.

The issue is that ALREADY the Euroleague can pay more to every player that comes along now in the draft. If people really think this will continue and not bring the NBA down a couple of notches, then gee I guess people here really believe the pro athletes play simply for the hell of it and money never crossed their mind.

[Dtown84]

Like someone said it's not a matter of offering similar salaries they essentially have to overpay, and that's not including endorsements. I don't think Nike or Gatorade etc etc are going to shell out the cash they do now to a player that won't be seen anywhere in the United States.

This also requires these trends to continue indefinitely, we saw how much the first part of the betting scandal hurt the NBA regular season (ie. barely at all.), and it also requires the dollar to stay in its position or lose value over the years to come.

The fact that the Euro Leagues have more fans watching them in Europe than the NBA helps them prevent losing players, but it does nothing to attract NBA level Americans and until they do it's not even a discussion.

I think the Euroleagues can pull closer, but surpassing the NBA is a long way off if ever.

[HarlemHeat37]

the money isn't significantly different..most of the best players coming out of college or high school come from poor families..the money is a lot either way, it doesn't make a difference when you consider that these American kids would have to live in Europe..like someone else said, a lot of players don't even like playing in Canada, and that's virtually the same as the US(snowy parts-East coast)..why would they wanna play all the way in Europe for slightly more money?..

[Blame Rasho]

You are not using logic.

Nope you aren't... when you fail to address all the points that have been mentioned.

[Dtown84]

at the notion of the euroleagues surpassing the NBA in 3 years. Unless the league completely folds or something, how the hell would that happen? All the leagues stars would be over the hill? Dwight Howard, Lebron, Chris Paul are going to be over the hill in three years?!

How would players get out of their contract, where's the movement to poach draft prospects, where's anyone even thinking about it?

[Blame Rasho]

Exactly...

I don't see teams from overseas coming out and scouting and recruiting our highschool and college players for them to play with their team.

Well when you say players like Dwight Howard and Chris Paul are going to be over the hill in 3 years, there really isn't much to discuss.

[FNQ]

Your logic includes the Euroball teams increasing their budget exponentially... which is a ridiculous assumption to make. It is illogical to use one spiked year as a grounds for making a business argument. Also, considering you are only using a handful of teams further weakens the argument - what about the other teams? What are their budgets? In the teens? twenties?

You also leave out the logic of education... American kids are going to leave America and play in Europe where English isn't even the first language? Don't forget about the logic of wanting to stay near their families... is there any logic in the talent level as well?

[hsb]

This ref scandal is not going to help the league and I personally seeing it getting worst. But no, the NBA will be the premiere league for many, many years to come.

It will be harder for NBA teams to acquire top European talent and projects, however. Especially if the Tiago Splitter case is any indication.

[Zerostatic]

I've predicted that was going to happen a couple of years back. We are still far away. However it is going to start with role players and benchwarmers first. Players like James Posey, Brendan Haywood, Bonzi Wells, Mikki Moore, Jason Terry, etc. are going to start finding that they can make more money in Europe and be star players at the same time. Of course it will only be a few brave ones at first, then it'll increase and before you know it, this will start happening with the higher tier players as well. We are still at least a decade away at least and for this to happen and the world-wide popularity of basketball will have to keep on going strong and the Euroleague will have to be a healthy financial shape but I think it can and probably will happen.