ESPN reported just 3 days ago that NBAPA Director Billy Hunter believes the entire 2011-2012 season will be canceled.
I guess LeBron James is gonna have to wait another year to start his quest to win a second championship...oh wait...
With no end to the NBA lockout in sight (keep in mind, we were saying the same thing about the NFL lockout a month ago), Hunter may certainly be right. But, unlike with the NFL lockout, I would really prefer this wasn't the case. The following is a comparison of where both leagues stand financially and with their fan bases, and I will leave you with my opinions, but it is up to you all to decide which lockout was (is) worse.
(Attending) Fan Base: The most important part of any work stoppage is the consideration of how the fans will respond when the sport is not being played. Needless to say, some NFL fans (Nick Fedyk) would have been jumping out of Harbin 8th-story windows without their football on Sundays. Every NFL stadium is sold out for every game, but this isn't surprising seeing as most teams only play 8 home games a year. NBA games, on the other hand, rarely sell out, but there are definitely more of them to be had, so you would figure attendance at events would be about equal across a whole season of play. So what is the X Factor here? This country essentially runs on football. As much as it pains me to say it, baseball is no longer America's past time, it's football. Entire towns don't stop for a basketball game, but if you go west of Dallas, you'll be hard pressed to find a town that
doesn't shut down on Friday nights for
High School football games. The NFL has a much more devoted fan base than does the NBA, meaning that even though the NBA experienced possibly its best season in 25 years, a lockout would devastate attendance and viewership. The NFL doesn't have to worry about that, because 100,000 Nick Fedyks will fill the stands at Fed-Ex Field on Sundays regardless of whether there was a season the year before.
Edge: NFL
(Worldwide) Fan Base: This is an easy one. Football is an American sport and only gets American viewership. People in Europe and Asia could not care less about what happens in the NFL; there are no memorabilia sales in these regions. Basketball, on the other hand, is popular worldwide, especially in Europe and China. Now while you would expect that an NBA lockout would be quite disappointing to Europeans and Asians who love watching NBA basketball, the fact that club teams in these areas are inviting NBA stars to come over and play (for pretty hefty contracts, I might add) during the lockout means that viewership for the NBA across the pond could increase drastically post-lockout.
Edge: NBA
League Fiscal Situation: Now I know none of us want to hear about millionaires squabbling over money, but these lockouts always happen because of financial inequity. The debate here is not which situation is most easily solved, but which situation is more easily justified, and that clearly favors the NBA. Just to briefly explain the basis of money problems in each league: The NFL owners and players were arguing with each other over who should get a larger cut of the pie. This was not a group complaining because they had no money or they were losing money, this was millionaires and billionaires being greedy. The NBA, on the other hand, has stopped work because 22 out of 30 owners are LOSING money by owning their team. That's right, Mark Cuban now only has $1.5 billion instead of $1.7 billion, but he is losing money nonetheless. Now it is easy to see which lockout is more justified (for those of you not sure, it's the NBA). In fact, one could go so far as to say the NFL lockout wasn't even
necessary and only happened because the rich wanted to be richer.
Edge: If I'm giving it to the league that's not in as desperate of a situation, it's the NFL. If you want to go in terms of which is more justified as a "problem", it's the NBA.
Effect on the American People in General: This is going to be a comparison of time invested by the American People on the sport which could have been used to do something else. There is no doubt that football has a more NEGATIVE effect on the American people. I can say just from the 10 days that was spent in training camp, which don't matter at all, people talk more about football training camp than they do the MLB pennant races, which are happening right now. The only day out of the entire year that an NBA fan spends doing nothing but watching basketball is Christmas Day. NFL fans spend the entirety of 1 out of every 7 days for 5 months watching football. So, which is contributing more to the US obesity (and stupidity) rate? Most certainly the NFL.
Edge: NBA.
Above, I listed four different aspects of a lockout, the effects it has on its national and international bases, its fiscal properties, and the effect it has on the individual fan. In my opinion, the NBA lockout is more detrimental to the sport and its viewership, but the NFL lockout would have been more desired. I think this country could have used a year without football. That way, people could stop complaining about how terrible their bank account looks as a result of spending $40 to buy 2 beers and 2 hot dogs at an NFL stadium. Also, maybe those of us who spend their entire Sunday doing nothing but having their attention glued to the TV (and computer) screen (Nick Fedyk) would actually do something with their lives. On the other hand, some of these people (Nick Fedyk) would probably be so pitifully lost without programming for their Sundays, that they may just decompose into shells of their former selves. Who is to say, though, as the NFL lockout was finally ended before any playing time was affected. The NBA's popularity was as high as it's ever been after the 2010-2011 season, and now it will have to try to recover lost time, just as hockey had to do 7 years ago.
These are my opinions, tell me what you think in the comments.
