The National Basketball Association never had it so good. The most exciting playoff season in years ended this week. Television ratings are up. Fan interest is at an all-time high, and the league is poised to expand into Canada next season.
Must be time for a crippling labor dispute.Basketball so far has avoided the strange logic that links prosperity with self-immolation in professional athletics. It has defied the formula so familiar to baseball and hockey fans, the one that says the tendency for chaos is directly proportional to profits.
To hear Commissioner David Stern talk Wednesday night, the NBA is trying hard to keep it that way. The no-strike, no-lockout agreement that kept the just-completed season intact has been extended because of "substantial progress" in round-the-clock negotiations.
That sort of announcement is like a cool breeze in the stuffy world that characterizes disputes between millionaire athletes and billionaire owners. Still, fans shouldn't think a basketball work-stoppage has been averted. Only a few days ago, owners were talking about a lockout at the end of the championship series, and it remains a real possibility should the substantial progress grind to a halt. Any kind of work stoppage would hurt the league, its franchises and the cities that host them.
Listen up, Utah Jazz fans.
Some say a lockout in mid-June would mean little. No one plays in mid-June. But a lockout would cancel all NBA-sponsored summer camps, including the Rocky Mountain Review in Salt Lake City - an event that has attracted more fans each year.
The loss of a camp wouldn't be devastating, but it could portend much greater losses in the fall. If the two sides don't resolve their differences before next season begins, games could be canceled. Teams would start to lose money. Teams in the smallest markets would suffer the most, and the Utah Jazz play in the smallest of them all.
What does this mean?
Larry H. Miller has done a remarkable job of turning the Jazz into a profitable franchise. He has a solid core of about 15,500 season-ticket holders, all of whom pay an average of $1,500 per seat each year. He owns a television station that broadcasts games and sells advertising, and he has surrounded the inside of his Delta Center with billboards, placards and other advertising vehicles that generate income.
None of these would earn a dime in a prolonged labor dispute. And, once play resumed, season-ticket sales likely would suffer and advertising revenues would decline.
However, the Miller's financial obligations would continue. About $54 million remains to be paid on the Delta Center.
Miller, whose empire includes 21 car dealerships, has said he won't sell the team unless it becomes a burden on his other enterprises. Clearly, a work stoppage would be a step in the wrong direction.
NBA players and owners showed a great deal of common sense last fall when they voted to play the season despite the lack of a labor agreement. They showed they had the smarts to avoid ruining a good thing.
That wasn't too surprising. This is the league that agreed to a salary cap a decade ago under the mutual understanding among players and owners that it was the best thing for all. This is the league that masterfully marketed its product in nations where most fans never will see a game in person. More than one Utahn traveling abroad has been surprised to hear a local explain in broken English what the Jazz need to win a championship.
The current dispute sounds vaguely familiar. Fans have become used to the language of labor negotiations. The players want more money from international licensing and arena revenue. They want a larger piece of the overall pie than the current 53 percent they are getting - a demand that would increase the salary cap by about one-third.
Owners want a tighter salary cap to control runaway contracts.
Fans have demands of their own: Resolve the dispute quickly, before the NBA becomes just another league that puts the desires of its paying customers last. Don't ruin a good thing, and don't spoil the conditions that have allowed areas like the Wasatch Front to enjoy top-quality professional sports.