Steve Bulpett: Celtics Feel Lockout's Squeeze

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

NBA Notes/by Steve Bulpett 

Celtics feel squeeze of lockout
NBA Notes/by Steve Bulpett 

11/01/98

Try to suppress your shock and amazement, but the NBA's idea to redo schedules and
squeeze in a few more games -- if, that is, there is a season following the NBA 
lockout -- is not quite the product of kind-hearted souls wishing to provide more
enjoyment to the world. The sense can be found in dollars.

The talk of television money is fine, but with the newer arenas around the league 
and the premium seating and luxury suites those buildings contain, there is a heavy
piece of change to be taken in when the doors are opened.

A quick scan of Celtics prices and attendance figures leads one to figure the club pulls
in more than $800,000 from ticket revenue each time it hosts a party at the FleetCenter.
Before expenses, of course.

So the push to replace lost games is understandable. And when the NBA mentioned on Wednesday
that it will likely put out an entirely new slate, NBA commissioner David Stern wasn't just
offering an extemporaneous thought. Teams were contacting their arenas to check on open dates
as long as two weeks ago. In other words, Stern was saying that games would be lost forever 
and money would never be retrieved while the league was instructing its clubs to check on ways
to avoid just that.

It is not yet known how the survey went, but with most all the teams sharing their facility
with a hockey club (NHL or IHL) and with the usual slate of concerts, ice shows and circuses, 
the task will be daunting.

The Celtics, for example, will find little room at the inn. The FleetCenter schedule could
accommodate seven or eight additional dates in January, none in February, two in March and
three or four in April. If the scene is similar elsewhere, NBA scheduling czar Matt Winick
will have to break out the industrial-size shoehorn.

Spread the blame As far as the collective bargaining negotiations are concerned, it may be 
time to spread your disgust with the proceeding to both sides of the bagel.

It's far easier to coast along and vilify the players for kissing off incredible wealth in
search of obscene wealth. And, hey, no one's trying to get in your way here. But just be 
aware that the road to a hoopless November is a two-way street.

Get past even the fact the league has been digging in on its desire to keep the amount 
of overall revenue paid for salaries to 48 percent and settle in on the larger difference.

Basically, the owners are asking the players to enter into a revenue-sharing program
among themselves. Call it what you want, but they're asking Michael Jordan and his
high-rent buddies to give some of their cash to Bruce Bowen.

And this is a good thing. Those with excess should be willing to lift the station 
of the less fortunate (and wow, does it hurt to use the term less fortunate on
people who made a minimum of $272,000 per year). The logic is sound.

But when the players turned to the owners and suggested they could prevent fellow
franchise holders from losing money by sharing a portion of their local revenue, 
the subject was quickly changed, according to two union members.

The New York Knicks, with their huge local television and radio rights packages,
simply do not want to invite their friends in for a piece of the pie. And while
you can say they should be able to keep what they earn, it would be so easy to 
come up with a formula that takes into account the different costs of doing
business in each city (office space is worth a tad more in New York than
Indianapolis) and slide a few dollars to the smaller-market clubs.

As it stands now, Knicks leader Dave Checketts was simply preaching the owners'
gospel when he said baseball made the mistake of not locking out its players 
long enough, settling instead for a less advantageous deal than it should have.

So is your doghouse a bit more crowded now or what?













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