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Stern: League Expects To Lose $300 Million This Season


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NBA commissioner David Stern acknowledges the tremendous success the league is enjoying this season. He estimates that gross revenues will surpass $4 billion.

 

That said, Stern says that the game's financial structure must change.

 

"We are still likely to lose collectively somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 million, which is lower than $370 million of a few years ago and $340 [million] last year," Stern said. "But we still remain very much intent on having a system that actually allows us to both have a sustainable business model."

 

The NBA's collective bargaining agreement with its players expires June 30 at 11:59 p.m.

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20110422_NBA_still_losing_money__Stern_points_out.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

There's some things the NBA could do IMO to make the league more popular - but, of course Stern would never do it.

 

They should, In my view and from what I've heard numerous basketball fans (but do not watch the NBA) say:

 

- Change the first round series back to 5. The playoffs are incredibly long. They last two months. It turns people off. It seems to drag on for a while for the casual viewers.

 

- Eliminate the defensive 3 in the key. People love college ball, but are turned off to the rule that has ONLY been changed in the NBA. The game's always been played with centers allowed to stand in the paint - as a matter of fact, when you're taught defense in high school, I was taught to split the court in half by standing in the paint. That's how you rotate.

 

- Bring hand checking back. Yes, it's going to reduce flashy scoring and huge games in the 100's, but a lot of casual fans that watch NCAA really get turned off to the quick reach in fouls that are called on the perimeter, and how 'impossible' it seems to defend the star players.

 

I think returning those rules to the original basketball rules would instantly help attract viewership that Stern has lost. Many, at least basketball fans that I've talked to, think the NBA has turned into a bunch of fast breaking, no defense and guys not even playing hard. Those are some stereotypes that I think truly do exist and turn off viewership.

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There's some things the NBA could do IMO to make the league more popular - but, of course Stern would never do it.

 

They should, In my view and from what I've heard numerous basketball fans (but do not watch the NBA) say:

 

- Change the first round series back to 5. The playoffs are incredibly long. They last two months. It turns people off. It seems to drag on for a while for the casual viewers.

 

- Eliminate the defensive 3 in the key. People love college ball, but are turned off to the rule that has ONLY been changed in the NBA. The game's always been played with centers allowed to stand in the paint - as a matter of fact, when you're taught defense in high school, I was taught to split the court in half by standing in the paint. That's how you rotate.

 

- Bring hand checking back. Yes, it's going to reduce flashy scoring and huge games in the 100's, but a lot of casual fans that watch NCAA really get turned off to the quick reach in fouls that are called on the perimeter, and how 'impossible' it seems to defend the star players.

 

I think returning those rules to the original basketball rules would instantly help attract viewership that Stern has lost. Many, at least basketball fans that I've talked to, think the NBA has turned into a bunch of fast breaking, no defense and guys not even playing hard. Those are some stereotypes that I think truly do exist and turn off viewership.

 

Eliminate defensive 3 in the key and enforce hand checking and great defensive teams with physical guards and strong bigs wouldn't allow any points. Games would become messy defense-fests and fans would tune out. There's a reason why the last time-frame handchecking was allowed (early in the 2000's decade) saw the NBA's worst TV ratings.

 

Not that I'm strongly against bringing handchecking back, but it's not aesthetically pleasing at all. Eliminating defensive 3 in the key could be a disaster. You try scoring on the Thunder front court if they aren't restricted to simply standing at the basket. My goodness, Ibaka would average 10 blocks a game. Every post player would be double teamed. It would be like old Spurs-Pistons games.

 

The NBA also shouldn't be penalized for players' short attention spans.

 

A lot of casual fans don't actually appreciate good defense and are fine with reaching and gambling all willy-nilly. They think it's good defense, especially since a lot of college guards aren't 1 taught to explode past missed gambles and look to automatically score the way they are in the NBA and are instead always forced to run sets to their natural conclusion. Casual fans are probably really bored by Miami's defense, for example, not because it's bad, but because it's fundamentally sound.

 

There are a couple of markets where the NBA simply isn't profitable, like New Orleans, and the luxury tax hasn't been the impediment that the league thought it would be for big markets.

 

Changing the luxury tax and the financial structure of the league will do more to increase revenue than a few alterations to increase TV viewers. National TV revenue is fixed by contracts with ABC Disney and Turner anyway, while local contracts are capped by market size. Besides, ratings are already extremely high this season.

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