SalmonsSuperfan wrote:it's too much money for the owners AND the players, Doug. That's what I wrote. Reinsdorf can net a billion shoving gambling down children's throats and Pat Williams can net a couple million marketing products made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh. This isn't some analogy for a labor struggle, the "laborers" are also some of the wealthiest men who have ever existed on this planet.
If you're going to complain about people with too much money, then I'd start targeting the tech giants before I'd start targeting the sports leagues. Put price caps on the margins on an iphone and all other types of things. If your complaint is really just with capitalism and wealth/income inequality, I totally agree. Fix our tax system to be wealth based instead of income based (or at least a mix) would be a great start (or at a minimum, kill off the capital gains loop hole so that rich people no longer pay lower effective tax rates than everyone else).
it's too much **** money and no it's not "it is what it is" the money comes from somewhere. or in this case, it probably doesn't come from anywhere. it's fake money. NBA viewership has declined, overall interest in the sport has too. So these people responsible for producing an inferior product over the years should be rewarded with a 300% raise? they might profit more than $7bil but it won't be because of sports. It will be because professional basketball will have gone the way of horse racing. it already has, but expect more DraftKing and Ozempic ads targeted at 13-year-olds.
It isn't an inferior product. I think it's among the best products the NBA has ever had. This is the highest skill level to ever exist in the league, but even if you think it is inferior, stop watching. No one is stopping you. Don't bitch about other people's happiness or what other people are willing to pay.
I'm with you on the integration of gambling in the sport. I hate it. I don't gamble, I don't intend to start. I think like many things that people struggle to moderate, it's truly evil for those that can't moderate it and destroys lives. It's also a fun activity for those who can moderate it, and society hasn't really found a great holistic solution for activities that are fun for some and horrors for others.
Ozempic is a red herring, the NBA is a terrible audience for Ozempic ads (though medical based weight loss to control GLP1 is going to be an absolute game changer and within 5 years everyone who needs it will be on a version of it, and the world will be a dramatically healthier place for it, likely not Ozempic explicitly, but our understanding of GLP1 and next gen drugs around it will probably be one of the best medical advances in the past 30 years).
of course, while the reality of the situation is that professional sports is broken, a fake industry where it's impossible not to turn a profit at a higher rate of return than any index fund; an industry that has no business being controlled by any private individual, I still enjoy watching them. I've offered an idea that could take that ~$4bil and use it in a way to make the sport better, a better experience for the fans, maybe even a vehicle for economic development (evidence that minor league ballparks have a positive effect on local economies) not to line the pockets of "working class" NBA players. I think this gets lost in the labor analogy between ownership and players, that the fans, the public, are the actual "workers" in the equation, consequently we don't have any say in creating or improving these public goods (sport is definitely a public good) that are controlled by wealthy elites.
I mean the NBA was not a no brainer investment not that long ago. 2/3rds of franchises were in the red.
Professional Sports leagues are not a public good. They're owned by private individuals. It's not easy to start/maintain a league. There are 1000s of sports out there, if you think it's super easy, pick one that doesn't have a great pro league and get one going and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Many have people have tried, and the vast majority of them have failed. The ones that succeeded got insane returns, but 95% of the people who try fail.
NBA owners largely already have created a different, lower level sports league. The fact that you think it isn't good enough isn't a reason for them to invest 4 billion to make it better. They probably view it as a terrible use of their investment money and would be correct.