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NBA – Where Amazing things Happen with money   by Stephen Lars

Some fans in Dallas are still celebrating the epic postseason that the Mavericks had this year, which consequently gave the team its first ever NBA Championship ring. It was an exciting run, having Dirk Nowitzki guiding the team as the first German to win the NBA Finals MVP while shutting down the overrated LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Still, it is uncertain if the fans are going to be able to enjoy this same excitement the following season as the NBA team owners and the NBA player union have yet to sign of a new collective bargaining agreement and the NBA is officially in a lockout. If you thought the NFL’s lockout was a big deal, just wait till you start getting more familiarized with the NBA’s collective agreements mess.
Money is going in. It is a well-known fact that the NBA as an organization is a fairly profitable entity. It also seems as if the money that is going into the association is not necessarily been dealt in the most effective manner, allegedly pushing 20 teams into a yearly deficit. The union believes that the NBA is actually making it look a lot worse then it actually is. The owners are reluctant to sign a new collective agreement unless the model is profusely changed. The team owners want a much bigger cut, arguing that the current revenue share model is not enough to cover the costs of operation and thus making them finish each season in red figures. And yet, after the most recent audit, it was revelead that Basketball-related income and total player compensation each increased by 4.8 percent in the NBA this past season.
According to the report we were able to gather, Basketball-related income increased from $3.643 billion in 2009-10 to $3.817 billion. The redistribution of that income states that the total player compensation increased from $2.076 billion to $2.176 billion. The increase was 1 percent the previous year and 2.5 percent two years that. So at least at first glance, player compensation is not exactly minimal nor are they certainly suffering much from the crisis that seems to affect everybody else. The average player salary this past season was $5.15 million. Not a bad deal. This is particularly good if you consider that over the six years of since the ratification of the previous CBA, the average salary increased by 16 percent.
The players had offered to give up $100 million in salary costs annually in a proposal for a new five-year deal. Considering that for starters they are the only ones who seem to be making a killing deal out of this, is not that bad of an offer. The league projected losses of $300 million last season. They took into consideration losses of several hundred million dollars in each season of the previous CBA, which was ratified in 2005. That deficit also affected the NBA as an association. As a matter of fact the NBA has trimmed staff by about 275 since October 2008, either through layoffs or by leaving positions vacant when employees departed.
The league also has cut administrative costs, travel and new technology. It consolidated offices in Europe and Asia but on the other hand did it by closing offices in Paris and Tokyo.
How much the commissioners make?
Still this is not affecting what commissioner David Stern is making each year as part of his payroll. He is quite in a good spot when it comes to compensation for other commissioners of American professional sports. Consider for an instance that Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig earns $18.35 million annually and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell earns $10.9 million. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s salary is a little lower then the rest of his collegues, but he is still making $7.5 million after his most recent bump. Even though NBA commissioner David Stern’s salary is not reported publicly it wouldn’t be much of a long shot to say his salary is somewhere a bit over the $10 million benchmark.

About the Author

Stephen Lars is a prominent sports blogger and currently covers the NBA news, previews and handicaps for the BetIAS’ Sports Betting Blog.You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.
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