Multi Modal essay

Whitney Daugherty

10/23/11

Professor Lutz

Multi Modal Essay

  The NBA lockout is a hot topic and has many players and fans upset and very aggravated. Some people go out to say that the lockout is fully on the players. They say that because the players earn 57% of NBA revenue. Therefore concluding that the players are being too stingy and expect to get paid $70 million a year which is pretty ridiculous. A huge reason they want to reduce the players’ share of revenue and place a cap on how much each team can pay players is because last season they lost $300 million per year over the last several years. NBA players receive 57% and they are only willing to go down 2.7% to 54.3%, which isn’t enough. Now this is the controversy and that’s why there is a lockout because they can’t find a happy medium. They say that two of the main players that aren’t helping the cause is LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, which as most of us know these are two of the top players in the NBA.

Rookies vs. Lockout

            A huge controversy is between the rookies and how they’re being affected by the lockout. These rookies are the ones who are going to be hit the hardest and the fastest. Because they are coming in and they haven’t had any income or an egg to sit on while waiting to see what’s going to happen with the lockout. The highest sort of income that they will be receiving is loans set up by their agents. As one prominent agent tells SN, "It's a lot riskier than a lot of the players think. There are guys who you will want to get a spot on a team there because they're young and they need the money and they need to play and gain experience. But not the top guys" (Agent 55). They are talking about all the anxiety built up in the younger players and the other top players going overseas to play while all the rookies are hanging around to try to catch up and shoot while working out and staying in great shape. Also at the same time the rookies are kind of in shock thinking how this could happen to be me. As rookie player Derrick Williams says "It's not the way you would have envisioned coming into the league when you start playing it all through in your mind" (Willams 55). This backs my opinion up, the players are surprised and kind of in distraught that they have to wait to get there NBA nation started. This leads to why some top players are going overseas to play so they can at least be playing real games rather than practice and lifting. Rookies vs. the lockout aren’t the only controversies there are many more that lead to one another.

Players vs. Owners

            Basically the lockout is a controversy between the owners and players. The owners believe they’ll win the battle, and of course the players believe they’ll win. They need to eventually meet a new collective bargaining agreement because they can’t afford to pay the players $5.8 million a year to play basketball. The owners want a 10-year pact that will eventually cut the players pay to $4.2 million a year from $5.8 million a year, which sounds more reasonable. They will be moving the revenue from 57% to 48%. This is crazy, it means the players will get a $700 million pay cut. This sounds like bogus but if you go down and look at each step it isn’t. They can either get further in debt as a NBA nation or meet an agreement, and they’re still getting lots of money coming in. They say that the owners will eventually get what they want. One, because they can’t afford it and they’re having to sell it for depressing prices. And two, because almost half the players ask for advances on their pay checks, for bogus reasons. The top reason is because their having to pay child support on a child to which they aren’t married to the mother. Also NBA commissioner David Stern has the owners back. In my opinion the players are looking like they should buck up and take $4.2 million or they need to move on.

Star Player Dwayne Wade’s Point of View

            The players are having a hard time coping with the lockout, and some have hard feelings toward the owners. An example is when star player Dwayne Wade said “we haven't done a great job of complaining. That's what the NBA has done; they've done a great job of complaining. We haven't done a great job of that so no one sees our side” (Wade 1). This is a lot of emotion wrapped up because they aren’t getting their way and their true feelings are coming out. He’s making fun of how the NBA (owners) are complaining to get their way basically. Wade also chipped in that the NBA owners are hurting the fans because he feels like they’re letting them down. He said he and the other players are sick because of this lockout and they can’t believe the actions of the owners. But on the other side Wade said he was going to work his butt off to get better just to show the fans that do still support the NBA proud. Therefore he hasn’t gave up, and he hopes the fans realize this. It is kind of ridiculous this has to happen but at the same time the players need to understand that they are getting paid a lot of money and they need to not be so selfish when the NBA is going down hill. They should lower their pay a couple percent to help the NBA nation out.

NBA lockout vs. Economy

            While the lockout is going on and there are no crowds in the big cities, their losing profit as well and it’s affecting their business in a negative way. For example in Cleveland the restaurant Harry Buffalo counts solely on the NBA crowd, and they might have to find another path to go and some people may lose their jobs because they can’t afford losing the sales from the NBA lockout. This is where it really hits home because the managers have to think about their workers as well. Some may have families and depend on the money for that. It’s a touchy subject and if they don’t figure out what their going to do it may be ugly for a few families. Also in Charlotte they earn lots of money that help them make a living and this is going to kill their sales. Brixx Pizza across the street makes a living off their sales from the NBA games and they have to trim their workers because they can’t afford it. They make an extra $1,000 on game night compared to no game. Not only is it hurting these large cities it’s hurting the ticket sales as well. For each home game they bring in about $83 million in sales on tickets.

NBA lockout vs. Fans

            Fans are a huge role in the NBA nation, and their getting hurt pretty bad during this lockout. But the fans’ being hurt is affecting the NBA as a whole. Seeing this happen and the NBA being so stingy will make the fans not want to come out and support the players and owners. They won’t want to pour money into the organization. Because in the NBA “fans aren’t just customers their investors” (SB Nation). They say this because $1.75 of the $2 billion spent on renovating the arenas is public money. This is when the fans have a one up on the lockout. The fans can control the income of the NBA because they just don’t attend the games the NBA will be playing in the rinky dink arenas, like college arenas because they won’t be able to afford any nicer ones. Their afraid that that casual fan that shows up after football season will show up but the loyal ones might say heck with it because the NBA isn’t showing regard to them. This is definitely true by the NBA not being able to meet in the middle is hurting them worse. The fans will feel like they don’t care about them and it causes hate and they won’t come support them.

NBA lockout vs. Players

Many players are fed up with the lockout and want to move to overseas and there are rumors about the NFL. Lebron James was known to be an all-state football player in high school, and his favorite video game is Madden (a NFL game). People may be assuming things but at the same time Lebron has also been contacting head people in the NFL. There has been a rumor that he was going to play for the Eagles. This also goes back on fans; thousands of people come to watch Lebron if he was to move you would have some angry people. Also many players are going overseas to play. Deron Williams, Dominique Watkins, Stephon Marbury and also Dirk Nowitzki which was named NBA’s MVP last season. Many people find this shocking but the players are fed up with not being on the court and will take the easy way and take less money. These top notch players leaving will hurt the NBA’s income. NBA players are also leaving to make a point to the owners. They’re kind of being even more selfish about the situation. On the other hand more it’s sparking a fire and making players like Wade and Bosh to want to work ten times harder.