NBA - The Re-Open: - Connaughton has Covid-19, pg. 94

[ReasonablySober]

Bill Simmons had Shams on his pod last night to talk re-open.

Was not particularly impressed with Shams acumen on CBA specifics. Simmons went down this rabbit hole about renegotiating the CBA to allow for each team to have one guy whose salary wouldn't count against the cap, under the belief the cap would be contracted by $10 to $30 million for next year. So example, the Bucks could exclude their highest dollar contract (Middleton) from their cap.

I'm at a loss why these NBA media types are having such a hard time with this. All they simply have to do is reduce all existing contracts by a specific percentage (35-40%). Then if BRI next year meets a certain level, said contract values would float higher based on that. You don't need to rewrite the entire CBA, just put in the adjuster clause based off BRI.

No way in hell the players association accepts that.

[paulpressey25]

No way in hell the players association accepts that.

They won't have a choice. If no arenas next year, and BRI goes down by 35%, they need to account for it. Taking the reduction percentage wise off each contract is a perfectly fair way to do it. Everyone takes the same percentage hit. And all the players get upside if BRI comes in higher.

Where MLB got into problems was they tried to have the salaries of the big time players reduced by a far greater amount than the lower paid guys. And thus the big time player agents like Scott Boras intervened to protect their commission checks.

[ReasonablySober]

No way in hell the players association accepts that.

They won't have a choice. If no arenas next year, and BRI goes down by 35%, they need to account for it. Taking the reduction percentage wise off each contract is a perfectly fair way to do it. Everyone takes the same percentage hit. And all the players get upside if BRI comes in higher.

Where MLB got into problems was they tried to have the salaries of the big time players reduced by a far greater amount than the lower paid guys. And thus the big time player agents like Scott Boras intervened to protect their commission checks.

And what happened? Baseball players got their full pro-rated salaries. Because no way in hell were they going to play otherwise.

[midranger]

Obviously the players have options. Like striking, or if you believe Kyrie starting their own thing. Much easier to start your own thing when there is no live crowd in an arena anyway. These dudes could rent a big gym and ESPN and TNT would line up to pay them for broadcasting rights, for far less that their contracts with the nba. There are some super savvy nba businessmen right now with lebron leading the charge.

Since the 80’s the nba has positioned itself where you cheer more for a few players than for the laundry. Bad Spot to be in if you push too hard.

[Chuck Diesel]

Good on ya, Patty.

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[paulpressey25]

And what happened? Baseball players got their full pro-rated salaries. Because no way in hell were they going to play otherwise.

NBA players may hold firm. At the same time, their union/management relations are a lot better. And right now NBA players get a greater percentage of revenue than MLB.

MLB players are dumb IMO, in that their middle class can outvote the upper class, but they allow the upper class to run their CBA.

[DingleJerry]

NBA is also different than MLB because they have all the money based off BRI already and the appropriate percent each side gets. MLB is the exact opposite with it being a free for all and each team not revealing their books. It was very tough to negotiate that stuff down since no one knows the numbers, and if it started down that route it would lead to it getting into the next CBA.

[Chuck Diesel]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/sports/basketball/nba-restart-disney-world-injuries.html

[FlagsFlyForever]

And right now NBA players get a greater percentage of revenue than MLB.

I believe the opposite is true.

The percentage of revenue that major league players have garnered as compensation compared with revenues has fluctuated between 48% and 52% for the last 15 years. In terms of the percentage that MLB has doled out in player salaries compared with other leagues whose capped systems require a percentage of that sport’s related revenue to go back to the players as salary, the amount paid out—including benefits, etc.—is still the largest. In the NFL, the figure is 48.5%. For the NBA, it is approximately 50%.

In 2018, the league spent 54.2% of revenues on player compensation according to industry sources who wish to remain anonymous. That compensation included not only the big-league salaries that fans have focused on but also players in Minor League Baseball, for which MLB pays.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/01/11/economic-data-shows-mlb-spent-less-on-player-salaries-compared-to-revenues-in-2018/

According to MLB’s data, the players’ percentage of revenue has hovered within 1.5 percentage points of the 50 percent mark for at least the last eight seasons.

There’s no way to fact-check MLB’s figures from afar, but the Players Association has access to the same financial information that the league does. Asked to comment, an MLBPA spokesman — after running the numbers by the union’s economists — confirmed that they’re “basically accurate.”

Upon negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement that took effect in 2017, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said his expectation was that the split would “stay right in that general area,” remarking that the union “wouldn’t have agreed to the deal otherwise.” A 50–50 split seems to be the target that the Players Association has set for itself.

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/2/21/17035624/mlb-revenue-sharing-owners-players-free-agency-rob-manfred

[paulpressey25]

^^^The numbers that I saw in articles back in May was that MLB was believed to be around 48% of BRI. The number cited in the Forbes article above include all minor league salaries as compensation, which inflates the figure.

And here is a doctoral research paper that may be worthless, but claims MLB percentage of revenues has been low historically. https://coles.kennesaw.edu/research/docs/spring-2018/SPRING18-02.pdf

In any event, the big star agents control the show in MLB. Has always been that way. In the NBA the middle class rules.

[Chuck Diesel]

Had a feeling Michael Beasley and Jamal Crawford would find their way into the bubble...

[chonestown]

Had a feeling Michael Beasley and Jamal Crawford would find their way into the bubble...

Michael Beasley, steadying veteran presence, is low-key one of my favorite NBA storylines. His career would make a hell of a country song.

[ackypoo]

why is coach bud selling his house?
https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/milwaukee-bucks-mike-budenholzer-selling-lake-michigan-mansion/

[midranger]

Hot market?

[machu46]

Bill Simmons had Shams on his pod last night to talk re-open.

Was not particularly impressed with Shams acumen on CBA specifics. Simmons went down this rabbit hole about renegotiating the CBA to allow for each team to have one guy whose salary wouldn't count against the cap, under the belief the cap would be contracted by $10 to $30 million for next year. So example, the Bucks could exclude their highest dollar contract (Middleton) from their cap.

I'm at a loss why these NBA media types are having such a hard time with this. All they simply have to do is reduce all existing contracts by a specific percentage (35-40%). Then if BRI next year meets a certain level, said contract values would float higher based on that. You don't need to rewrite the entire CBA, just put in the adjuster clause based off BRI.

Seems like you're talking about two totally different things here. Based on the way you laid it out here, it sounds like the Simmons/Shams conversation is about how to finagle the salary cap in a way that teams can still pay their players without technically being in the luxury tax. That's totally different than asserting that they should straight up just not pay their players the contracts that they agreed to.

I'm sure the owners will try to get out of paying them their full salaries, but for me at least, I have a very hard time feeling bad for the owners that have bought into an absolutely incredible investment that may finally have a bad year for once.

[jschligs]

why is coach bud selling his house?
https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/milwaukee-bucks-mike-budenholzer-selling-lake-michigan-mansion/

He's moving in with Giannis.

[buckboy]

Well, he bought it for $3.15MM, so he isn't going to make a ton when you consider the $200K it's going to cost him to sell it.

Seems odd. I don't think it means anything, just odd.

As a side note, I've been in that house several times. We did a fair amount of work there when it was remodeled about 10 years ago. Nice joint.

[sidney lanier]

why is coach bud selling his house?
https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/milwaukee-bucks-mike-budenholzer-selling-lake-michigan-mansion/

He's moving in with Giannis.

Or just getting ahead of the next alewife die-off.

[DingleJerry]

Well we all know he's not a good playoff coach because he lost to Lebron that time he made a team with no stars win 60 games. I'd assume he gets fired if he doesn't win it all this year.

[paulpressey25]

Seems odd. I don't think it means anything, just odd.

It is a stunning house. Fast drive to downtown. Doesn't add up.