Background of the NBA Lockout

Lockouts in professional sports happen very often in America and have many negative effects on the owners of the sport team, the players involved with the sport, and the economy. Lockouts happen regularly in sports because of labor disputes between the owners and the athletes. These labor contract disputes usually last a long time and have a negative impact one lot of things. Most lockouts lately have been in football, hockey, and basketball, but baseball has not had a lockout in twenty years. Lockouts in sports have had negative social and economic consequences for local economies and players, but sometimes they can benefit the owners. Lockouts will always be part of American sports and will always have some kind of impact.

''And this idea of players making large amounts of money also says something uncomfortable about our society, where a ballplayer can make so much more than, say, a teacher. But it's not the fault of the players. The money is obviously there. It seems like the owners have a death wish about the

The collective bargaining agreement between the National Hockey League and the player’s association stipulates that arbitration must be used initially in order to resolve disputes relating to salary, grievances, and system. A case that did a good job of demonstrating the authority of the collective bargaining agreement’s stipulation of an arbitration clause was McCourt v. California Sports, Incorporated. In this case plaintiff signed a National Hockey League Standard Players Contract to play professional hockey with defendant team. After defendant picked up a free agent from another team, the other team proposed that plaintiff's contract be assigned to it as compensation. An arbitrator agreed and plaintiff's contract was assigned. Plaintiff filed suit alleging that the reserve system and the assignment of his contract as compensation for the free agent violated § 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 1 (1976). The district court entered a preliminary injunction restraining defendants, hockey league, team, and players' association, from enforcing the arbitration award and from penalizing plaintiff for refusing to

7th Basic Agreement – in 1990, the owners tried to institute another lockout because the lack of a salary cap made it possible for large market teams to attract richer television contracts from local networks and offer players higher salaries. The owners were proposing a revenue sharing program that would mandate the

The collective bargaining agreements reached in professional sports are not industrywide. Rather, there is a separate one for baseball, football, etc. This makes bargaining in sports unique from other unions. Also, the clubs bargain as a group with unions over certain aspects of wages, hours and working conditions. However, the most important issue, individual salary, is negotiated between the club and player.

Business deals happen every day; Contracts expire, renew, and are negotiated without the public knowing for many large corporations and even sporting leagues. However, some contract changes cannot escape the media’s attention. The National Football League (NFL) is facing an expiration of its Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) (NFL Lockout Now One Month Old). Currently, the agreement has expired and NFL team owners have selfishly chosen to “lock” the players out. The term lockout means that the players are essentially not allowed to participate in any team activities or duties until the owner’s rescind this lockout. While many believe this is simply a battle between team owners and a player union, it can only appear to most as a selfish

This topic represents a time in which athletes, in this case baseball players, did not have a free choice when it came to having the liberty of deciding where they would like to play. The main concepts that will be described within this paper will include the reserve clause, Flood v. Kuhn case, MLBPA, lockouts, or strikes, and free agency. The reserve clause sought to restrict a player’s freedom to move into a contract with another team. Flood v. Kuhn was the huge case where Flood went against the power of baseball’s commissioner and took the case up to the Supreme Court. The MLBPA is important because it is the players union for when they need to come together as one to respond to a case such as Flood v. Kuhn. A

In this website article written by “The Doctor Chris Mueller”, a featured columnist from Bleacher Report, he explores both sides when it comes to the question “Are athletes overpaid?” and talks about the

Collective bargaining and unions have had a considerable effect on fans through professional sports. Because of these contract negotiations, athletes in recent years have benefited from an increasing share of ticket and television profits. Collective bargaining has resulted in strikes and lockouts and has disrupted several seasons through cancellation of games or even ending a season. The televising of sporting events has become the largest source of revenue

Not only has the NHL lockout upset the dedicated fans, who were looking forward to this years season. The most

This is the deal-killer. The players want no part of any such restriction. The percentage formula is especially unattractive now, because short-term league revenues will likely drop because of the lengthy lockout.

Many players would be very angry if there was salary caps and they would get the same pay as even just decent players or players who sit the bench and barely get any playing time at all. A salary cap would also be unfair to because if players don’t like the caps then they might quite the league. If they quit their league many fans would top coming to games and when that happens stadiums and arenas start losing money, which would be bad for all the sports fans and sports organizations whatever the sport is. A Eagles fan from Philadelphia said “If they start With these salary caps and players quit on the Eagles I will simply stop coming to the games.” Clearly Some fans really do worry about losing players because of salary

On September 15, 2004, Gary Bettman, representing the interests of the league and team owners, announced that the NHL players were being locked out from participating in the upcoming hockey season (Malhotra & Hout, 2006). Gary Bettman was authorized and empowered by the team owners to declare such a decision in the event the two parties could not come to a contract agreement during negotiations. Bob Goodenow, executive director of the players union, led negotiations on behalf of the players. Though many issues were addressed in negotiations, the primary issue was over salary cap. The owners insisted on a cap on salaries and the players refused to accept any agreement that included a cap.

Even players who do find places to play will be much less satisfied because of the lesser competition. Simply put, going from playing in the best league in the world to a lesser league or not playing at all would be very disappointing for players because of the less exciting games and reduction or elimination of a primary source of income. Another disadvantage is that fans would be greatly disappointed with the loss of an entire hockey season. According to a poll done by nhlcbanews.com, 70% of Americans and 94% of Canadians side with the need for cost certainty, while only 30% of Americans and 6% of Canadians agree with the NHLPA that the economic system does not need to be fixed. This implies that most fans believe that the NHLPA is being too greedy in their negotiations, and therefore a lockout would greatly reduce the reputation of the players. Interestingly, some players are willing to accept a salary cap and revenue-tied salary, as long as it means they can get on the ice, but the NHLPA claims that it is “as united as ever” in taking a stance against salary caps. A final disadvantage is that a lockout would result in a loss of an opportunity for revenue, and it would kill the

People tend to choose opposing sides in a good argument or debate but in reality, the truth is found in the middle. The opposite sides are a formation of distinct opinions that humans make for a simple black and white answer. We can see this in many different debates such as the constant stem cell development or if schools should have uniforms, but even in the running of our democratic republic government.