Players' League

[Michael Joseph Byrnes <mbyrnes@leland.Stanford.EDU>]

Noah Evans wrote (quoting me):

> > To call owner profits "unnecessary fat" is naive and untrue.
> 
> In what way? The live in hedonistic plenitude. It is hypocritical to propose
> that the players moderate their wealth while the owners do not.

When did I ever say that the players should moderate their wealth while
the owners should not.  

I believe that each side has a right to whatever concessions it can get in
the collective bargaining process.  My frustration is with the fact that
both sides seem to be out to win a victory over each other, rather than
being out to cooperate and win a victory for the league and the sport.

> > What has
> > stopped NBA players from starting their own league before now?
> 
> Their disorganization and lack of motivation.

They will always be too disorganized to start their own league.

> Their primary interest is money and basketball. I
> doubt they see very far beyond that(at least most of them).

Well, if you ask me, they seem to be doing pretty well in both of those
interests.

> > The owners are just as essential to the sport as the players.
> 
> Sport leagues existed before the concept of ownership and they may very well
> exist after the concept of ownership has come and gone.

No sport league like the NBA existed before the concept of ownership.  The
NBA is, in addition to being a "sport league", a multimillion dollar
entertainment industry.  Show me one of those that has existed without
ownership.

> >Where
> > exactly would the games in this "player's league" take place?  I don't see
> > the players all chipping in to buy stadiums (or finance their
> > construction).
> 
> Like the owners do either. They force the city to float bonds or raise taxes
> to pay for it.

This is a separate issue.  No city should ever fork over a stadium for a
sports team, though several cities have done so.  It hasn't, and won't
happen in Boston, though.  

ANyway, without a city to finance a stadium, no NBA player is going to
want to assume any part of the debt that would be involved.

> > Finally, a "player's league" would be worse to watch than today's NBA
> > because it would really be a "star player's league".
> 
> >Who would have more
> > power over the Boston Celtics, for example - Antoine Walker or Bruce
> > Bowen? The number of players in the NBA who have any sense of how to run a
> > team from the management side are few and far between.
> 
> It's amazing what consultants can do for you these days.
> 
> > Even if it were feasible, a "players league" would very quickly decline
> > into a WWF-type situation.
> 
> Why? What do you mean?

OK, let's say that you are the star center on the Boston Celtics, and I am
the "GM/consultant".  I decide to make a trade which I think is in the
best interest of the organization.  Unfortunately, the player to be traded
is your best friend on the team.  Since you're paying (most of) my salary,
I can either not make the trade or look for another "consultant" job.

What if the "coach/consultant", who also gets most of his salary from
you, isn't giving you enough minutes?  Bye, bye, coach/consulatant.

The players would run their league into the ground with such squabbles.  

Michael Byrnes
mbyrnes@stanford.edu