Warriors' sale could mean tough sell for NBA in upcoming CBA fight

Basketball Betting Lines

07/16/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There is an adage in politics - never let a serious crisis go to waste.

In these tough economic times, rank and file workers across America have never been more suspicious of management.

Most agree that the world's largest economy is not running on all cylinders right now and some even argue that it's come off the tracks completely, but most middle class employees can't help but get the feeling that management is using a bad situation to take advantage of them by scaling back on benefits and salary.

That kind of suspicion is about the only thing NBA players have in common with the middle class.

Since the league instituted a salary cap in 1984, it has grown from $3.6 million per team to a staggering a $57.7 million last season. In turn, player salaries have exploded, climbing from an average of $330,000 in '84 to $5.2 million by 2007-08. The numbers have stagnated a bit since then, but the average NBA salary has stayed above the $5 million mark.

That growth had the NBA crying poverty at every turn when the economy went south. Before the 2008-09 season, commissioner David Stern slashed 9 percent of his office staff in New York and played hardball with his officials, gaining significant reductions in the referees' retirement packages after threatening a lockout.

During the NBA's annual owners meeting in Las Vegas, buried among all the hoopla over the "Summer of LeBron," Stern claimed his league lost a combined $370 million thanks to the recession, a figure NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter balked at.

With the current collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players set to end on June 30, 2011, Hunter thinks Stern is using fuzzy math in an attempt to control salaries and make other changes to the CBA.

"David's numbers are unfounded," Hunter told ESPN. "It's a severe exaggeration."

Stern cited slowing ticket sales in some markets and a hit in both television and merchandising revenue to back his claim, while Hunter pointed to the league's overall increase in ticket sales and a much-increased television audience for the NBA playoffs to bolster his case.

Recent empirical evidence supports Hunter and the players.

A doom-and-gloom prediction by the NBA that predicted the salary cap would decrease from $57.7 million to $50.4 million in 2010 was way off and the league announced that the cap would actually increase next season to $58 million, a development that actually upset a number of the league's owners, who were taken by surprise.

"As soon as we get it, we spend it," Stern said of the league's still solid revenue streams. "That is the current system. We try to compete. Our fans love that. So we'd like to keep the league as competitive as possible, give all of our teams the opportunity to tell their fans they have a chance to win, and have some profit in it for the owners."

Those same owners are continuing to spend at a breakneck pace despite the sour economy and Stern's moribund words, giving even pedestrian players like Chris Duhon and Hakim Warrick big paydays.

Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors, not exactly the gold standard in the league, are set to sell for a record price. The Warriors. who were a disappointing 26-56 last season, are a lot closer to the Los Angeles Clippers than the Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics, but that didn't stop an investment group led by Joseph Lacob to pony up a record price $450 million for the franchise, exceeding the $401 million Robert Sarver needed to buy the Phoenix Suns in 2004.

Both sides are distrustful of each other and are hunkering down and preparing for the worst work stoppage since the 1998-99 lockout.

"I'm preparing for a lockout right now, and I haven't seen anything to change that notion," Hunter said.

Don't expect Stern, a master negotiator, to blink and let this crisis go to waste.

"I don't know how many collective bargainings I've participated in over the last too many years," the commissioner said. "We've thus far only had one failure to reach a deal in 1998. And many of the others have started out poorly, had predictions of doom and gloom, et cetera. You just keep on plugging. I think we've got a long way to go, but we have a lot of time to get there. That's the optimism

"Judging from (the players') proposal, which basically embraces the current system, we haven't closed any gap yet. But we're going to be resilient and prepared to spend the time necessary to see whether there's a deal to be had here, and we're going to do it for as long as possible."

Wwwifriends Basketball Betting News

<< Celtic adds Murphy from Sunderland
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic have completed the signing of Sunderland striker Daryl Murphy on a three-year contract. The 27-year-old joins fellow Bhoys newcomers Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and Cha Du-Ri in Neil Lenn

<< NBA summer leagues shed more light on the draft
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This year's rookie crop got its first taste of the NBA in the recently completed Orlando Summer League and the one in Las Vegas which concludes on Sunday. Though it's not the competition the player will see in th

<< Leafs' Kadri in for some heavy lifting
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nothing says pressure like holding the weight of a Stanley Cup-starved city on your shoulders. But regardless of how you look at it - fortunately or unfortunately - that is the reality for Toronto Maple Le

<< Blue Jays' Anthopoulos building on youth
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When your pockets aren't deep and you live in the American League East, you need to do things a little differently. With a new general manager in town, it seems as though the Toronto Blue Jays have finally com

<< Orioles recall INF Bell
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles recalled infielder Josh Bell from Triple-A Norfolk on Friday, a move that coincided with the club placing catcher Matt Wieters on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday with a right h

Podolski claims he is committed to Cologne >>
Cologne, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cologne's Germany international forward Lukas Podolski has vowed to stay with his current club this summer, despite links with a possible big-money move abroad. The 25-year-old enjoyed a fine Worl

NL East: With playoffs in sight, Braves make a switch at short >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It appears as though the Atlanta Braves got tired of waiting for Yunel Escobar. The Braves dealt the 27-year-old shortstop to the Blue Jays on Wednesday in a five-player trade that sent 33-year-old Alex Gonzalez to the Bra

Hamburg completes signing of Diekmeier >>
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamburg have completed the signing of right back Dennis Diekmeier for an undisclosed fee on a four-year contract from Nurnberg. The 20-year-old has played for Germany at three junior levels and m

Barca set to add Adriano from Sevilla >>
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sevilla wing back Adriano is poised to join Barcelona after the two clubs agreed to a fee for the Brazilian. The 25-year-old has been with the Rojiblancos since January 2005, making just over 200 appe

Stars sign veteran D Lukowich, two others >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars signed veteran defenseman Brad Lukowich and two others to one-year, two-way contracts on Friday. Lukowich, 33, has registered 23 goals and 90 assists in 653 regular season NHL games with six

SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.