CNBC: Electronic Arts Goes ‘On the Offensive’

[Ail]

AussieGecko said:

Ail said:

The sad thing is that we are probably heading for an NBA lockout too and that one could last a lot longer :(((

there was a NHL not too long ago as well wasn't there? What is with these athletes. They are getting a lot more than most athletes around the world. 

it isn't that simple.

The NFL incoming lockout is actually more the fault of the team owners than the players.

The owners have decided to end the current bargaining agreement early because they want some changes ( they want to pay rookie less, have 18 games instead of 16 per seasons and so on..) If it was just to players things would have kept going with the current agreement and no lockout would have happened, players are happy with the status quo...( but if there are going to be changes they want some changes concerning retirement benefits)

Keep in mind that right now every NFL team but two makes money so it's not like the owners have financials trouble and they need change, the NFL is a very profitable business....

 

NBA is different. Right now most NBA teams are loosing money and as the current agreement between owners and players end the owners are looking to reduce drastically the salary caps ( in the same vein than what happened in the NHL a few years ago) and it's expected the players won't agree at all as the owners want to cut salaries by as much as 40%.. The issue is that most teams loose money but at the same time outbid each others like crazy last summer for free agents like Lebron so basically owners complain they are broke but keep signing new players for record salaries....

The NBA thing could go really bad if the owners try to reduce existing salaries too instead of only trying to change future contact ( that's what happened in NHL where old contract were reduced after the negotiation)...

It's not clear how the NBA thing will turn out because fans are once again getting excited by Basketball thanks to a new crowd of very talented players so it's in noone interest to have a long strike. And it's actually harder for owners to lock out players because the medium players will just go play in europe if there is a strike( and will actually make decent money, there are a few rich european clubs that woudn't mind having some nba players for a season) and it lasts ( and the stars have enough money to not play for years and be fine).

Although I will agree some things need to change in the NBA because the idea of all the stars going to the same teams really sucks for the small/medium markets teams and kinda devaluates the performance of the team winning when they have 3 all stars as starters....( what we need is a team without stars to go deep in the playoffs, like Detroit 10 years ago).

 

The one thing that could save the NBA is that it seems that all the owners do not agree between themselves ( whereas all NFL owners seem to stand together) as there a few big owners that don't mind shelling out money ( like the new Nets owners or the Dallas Mavericks owner).

That being said.

GO NUGGETS !!!! They are so fun to watch  now than Carmelo is gone( and I hope the Heats don't win a title in the next 7 years !!!!!). Heats and Knicks out in first round of the playoff would rock !

Let the smart teams that nurture their players win ( Bulls vs Thunder playoff final would rock...)