The salary cap - past/future

[Fez Hammersticks]

I hate the money that is paid out in todays NBA. Looking back it's a crime how little the players of the 80's and 90's were paid compared to the new era. A lock out is likely and I hope one day that NBA contracts go unguaranteed like the NFL.

Prime example:

Clyde Drexler -- Career earnings : $29,872,000
Damon Stoudamire -- Career earnings : $99,672,198

 

[RoyToy]

It's not a crime how little the 80's/90's players were paid, it's a crime how much they're paid today.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Meh. How many current movie stars make more than Humphrey Bogart did? How many rockers make more than John Lennon? 30 years ago, do you think shoe company execs made as much as Phil Knight?

 

[hasoos]

There are more reasons to do it than that. I think most folks would be hard pressed to argue against the amount of balance in the NFL since they instituted a hard cap. A good cap system means players are distributed around the league very well, and every team has their share of those players, providing their mangement team is worth a fuck.

 

[THE HCP]

Clyde's mortgage was probably only $800 a month for a fat house in L.O.

 

[Wheels]

Also with a hard cap, our advantage of having an owner who is willing to spend seems to go out the window no?

 

[hasoos]

Also with a hard cap, our advantage of having an owner who is willing to spend seems to go out the window no?

Where has our owners willingness to spend got the team right now? I am not so sure it has really bought us much, and to be honest, out of all the time we were over the cap, only one of those years was any good.

 

[Draco]

I don't see how NBA players are overpaid. They are the absolute best at what they do. If you looked at the top100 financial minds or the top100 salesman in the world they are making more money. People want to pay large amounts of money to see performances by the best NBA athletes on the planet so those capable of delivering such a performance are rightfully compensated.

 

[Minstrel]

I don't see how NBA players are overpaid. They are the absolute best at what they do. If you looked at the top100 financial minds or the top100 salesman in the world they are making more money. People want to pay large amounts of money to see performances by the best NBA athletes on the planet so those capable of delivering such a performance are rightfully compensated.

Agreed. They're worth that much because they generate even more money for owners. Why cap what players can make so that owners can make even more money? Owners deserve a profit for taking on the risk of ownership, but players deserve a massive percentage of the total revenues due to supplying the actual product that people are interested in.

Athletes aren't as important as teachers or firemen? In abstraction, perhaps, but dollars are votes and pretty much every Western democratic society has voted that athletes are more important to them and their lives. Entertainment obviously matters a huge amount to people (and that's not particularly surprising).

 

[handiman]

Clyde Drexler -- Career earnings : $29,872,000
Damon Stoudamire -- Career earnings : $99,672,198

Makes me wonder ... was owning a franchise much more profitable in the 80's and early 90's than it is now? That's a pretty dramatic earnings difference for basically overlapping careers, and I don't recall there being a big boom in TV or merchandising around then. If anything, it seems like the jump in player salaries coincides with the post-Jordan dropoff in overall league financial viability.

 

[Denny Crane]

Why should the owners make all the money? Whatever the union can negotiate with them, BRI, is fine with me.

I just don't like that you can't trade a draft pick for a guy with the biggest contract in the league. There's nothing like a free market at work here.

 

[illmatic99]

Agreed. They're worth that much because they generate even more money for owners. Why cap what players can make so that owners can make even more money? Owners deserve a profit for taking on the risk of ownership, but players deserve a massive percentage of the total revenues due to supplying the actual product that people are interested in.

According to FORBES, 12 out of the 30 teams in the league are currently losing money. Even the owners aren't making profit.

Also, reducing player salaries could lead to a trickle down effect and reduce ticket prices. Considering that 13 out of the 30 teams in the NBA fail to even draw 90% attendance at their home games, lowering ticket prices could lead to more crowds, making the NBA even more profitable in the long run.

 

[oldmangrouch]

According to FORBES, 12 out of the 30 teams in the league are currently losing money. Even the owners aren't making profit.

Also, reducing player salaries could lead to a trickle down effect and reduce ticket prices. Considering that 13 out of the 30 teams in the NBA fail to even draw 90% attendance at their home games, lowering ticket prices could lead to more crowds, making the NBA even more profitable in the long run.

A couple of comments.

First, of those 13 teams running below 90% attendance, how many were play-off teams? Losing, not player salaries, chases fans away.

Second, that chart puts the Pistons in the bottom 10 based on % of seats sold....but they rank in the top ten in total attendance. Which is more relevant to team income?

 

[illmatic99]

A couple of comments.

First, of those 13 teams running below 90% attendance, how many were play-off teams? Losing, not player salaries, chases fans away.

3. All teams from the east. That said, my cutoff of 90% was rather arbitrary.

Second, that chart puts the Pistons in the bottom 10 based on % of seats sold....but they rank in the top ten in total attendance. Which is more relevant to team income?

I don't think I have sufficient information to answer this one. I'm guessing the cost to maintain a larger arena would also come into play.

 

[maxiep]

I'd like to see the NBA go to non-guaranteed salaries, but I want to keep the soft cap in place. I don't like the idea that if you acquire cheap players and they produce for you, you're penalized because you can't re-sign them because you have too many good players already. It reeks of the loophole where Cleveland and Golden State couldn't pay Boozer and Arenas as much as Utah and Washington could.

I love much of what the NFL has done, but I want players to be incentivized to stay with their teams.

 

[maxiep]

BTW, one area where the NFL could dramatically improve their cap is to slot salaries, just like the NBA. That would get rid of the overpaid rookies who hold out and ruin their first year in the league.

 

[maxiep]

If we went non-guaranteed, I'd be in favor of allowing massive bonuses which could be kept by the players and then pro-rated over the life of the contract. If the player is cut, the un-pro-rated portion accelerates to the next year.