I am trying to avoid newsfeeds on my phone and news updates on television because of the gloomy state of things. The current situation we are in is having the most of us be confined in our homes, and we sometimes have the tendency to forget what day it is. Never in my recent memory did we have so much idle time and sleep that had us saying, “ubos na gid mga damgo ko sa kinatulog.” Being on a different time zone also adds to the confusion.
Like the rest of the sporting events around the globe, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the richest leagues that got badly hit by the coronavirus disease 2019. As per latest reports, the NBA would very much want to crown its new 2019-2020 champion. They are having meetings now on how to salvage the rest of the season – best case scenario is to resume the games on late June. By that time, hopefully, it would already be safe for fans, players and the media to crowd NBA’s gigantic arenas.
Bringing back the season would mean bringing back revenues to the league, especially to its broadcast partners. Thirty percent of NBA’s income sources from lucrative television deals, which translate to about $2.7 billion annually. Most of the TV advertising money comes from the playoffs, along with the Lakers-Clippers post-season rivalry showdown.
There are 259 regular season games left, and that means an estimated $300 million in ticket sales. The playoffs, on the other hand, approximately have 83 games with an estimated value of $166 million in ticket revenues. Merchandise and concession sales, meanwhile, can account up to $700 million annually. The NBA will lose at least a billion dollars if they would do away the final regular season games, which could be a big possibility.
A clause on the ballers’ collective bargaining agreement gives NBA team owners the option of withholding the salaries of the players for the games that have been cancelled after April 15. The force majeure provision (which include scenarios like pandemics/epidemics, natural disasters, terrorism, sabotage, government orders and war), allows teams to withhold a fraction of a player’s salary per cancelled game based on the current health crisis.
The said provision above was inserted into the contracts of the players after the 9/11 attacks. A player will then forfeit about a percent of his annual salary. For example, in the case of LeBron James, who gets a $37.4 million salary from the LA Lakers, he will miss $404,000 per game. Ahay, kalooy man kay LeBron.
NBA’s salary cap – maximum total amount teams can pay their players – is dependent on league revenues. With the present shape of things around, caps will be lower next season, which means lower salaries to players. The current cap of $109 million per team could decrease by at least $10 million next season./PN
