Cap Space
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:01 pm
How much cap space will each team be projected to have this offseason now that the trade deadline has passed?
This will be the most difficult year in many years to project the salary cap due to the recession. In general, ticket sales, concessions, parking, etc. are down. The people in the industry that I've read or spoken to think radio/TV contracts, luxury boxes, season tickets and sponsorships were locked in before most of those buyers began to understand the depth of the recession. So the general impression of industry insiders is that the BRI number and the resulting numbers for LT, Salary Cap, MLE, etc will be flat or a little lower compared to this season.
The real damage is expected to come in the 2010 season when the BRI could drop significantly. This will give the league and the players association a year to ponder how all this will affect the next CBA. Someone told me yesterday that currently around five teams in the league make money, ten basically break even and fifteen lose money. He expects that by the summer of 2011 when the next CBA is going to be negotiated, more than 25 teams will be losing money. Furthermore, in the past, owners could make up the loss in revenues by the gain in the equity value of their teams. But this is no longer the case. Virtually all NBA teams are worth significantly less today than they were a year ago.