RE: Those nasty owners picking on those poor players....

["Meninno, James A." <JMENINNO@PARTNERS.ORG>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Noah P. Evans [SMTP:ishbak@conknet.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, June 30, 1998 11:05 PM
> To:	Meninno, James A.; 'Celtics@igtc.com'
> Subject:	RE: Those nasty owners picking on those poor players....
> 
> 
> > First: Why do you keep bringing up these supposedly crippled
> > ex-athletes?  Have you ever seen someone crippled from a career
> digging
> > ditches or mining coal for 1/100th of what athletes make?  It's got
> > nothing to do with what their market value is.
> 
> Injustice is injustice whereever it is.
[Meninno, James A.]  Working for a living is not injustice.  If athletes
don't want to end up with physical problems, they're in the wrong
career.  Personally, I don't think I would do it for the money I make as
a computer programmer.  But, for 2.2 million a year for 5-10 years?  You
bet I would.  But my point remains.  This is irrelevant when discussing
market value.  Like any job, if your employer can't make a profit, you
won't have a job much longer.


> > Second:  Have you ever seen a player lose money by playing
> basketball?
> > Whether it's 50% or 5% of them, some of the owners do lose money.
> No
> > players do.
> 
> Yeah but it's the owners fault if they do. Nobody forced them to sign
> player
> contracts for as much as they do. If an owner loses money it's because
> of
> their own stupidity.
[Meninno, James A.]  So you're saying the owners are right to take
action to control the increase in player salaries?  Good, I'm glad
you're seeing sense now.

> > Third:  If this wonderful cooperative, player owned league of yours
> ever
> > comes to fruition, you can bet there will be just as much
> > money-grubbing, in-fighting, petty squabbling as there is now.
> 
> Yes but the pie will be smaller. Ideally it would work like as Sam's
> Club or
> any other direct service or merchandise provider. By cutting out
> unneccessary fat(i.e. owner profits), there would be more to go
> around(for
> fan's and players).
[Meninno, James A.]  I think you mean that the pie will be the same
size, there's just fewer slices to share.  I have a hard time believing
that the players would do a very good job of marketing and administering
the league.  That might not be a terrible thing from a basketball point
of view (there's far too much marketing now) but from your perspective
of getting the player 'his fair share' I think it might be counter
productive.  Maybe you were right after all.  The pie would be smaller.


> >  How much
> > better would it be if Antoine was having this 'respect' discussion
> with
> > his teammates, instead of an owner.
> 
> Because however much "respect" he got would correlate with the team
> performance(i.e. better team=more profits="respect" for antoine's
> pocketbook).
[Meninno, James A.]  Let me see?  A player's salary = team performance.
So Antoine should make the same as Bruce Bowen, right?  Your scenerio
will have players on the same team fighting over who is more important
and contributes more to the team.  Want to judge it objectively and just
look at the stats?  That would create all sorts of conflicts over
playing time and shots.  Imagine coaching a team that was rewarded that
way!

> >
> > Fourth: Why should they ever want to start their own league?  The
> > players, even average ones, can become multi-millionaires right now
> with
> > absolutely no financial risk to themselves.  If they take over the
> > league, they will also assume the risk.
> 
> Yes, exactly. They would also get *all* of the profits. However much
> they
> got would correlate exactly with how well they performed.
[Meninno, James A.]  I don't see players wanting to take the risk.  They
have guaranteed contracts now and most players don't want to accept less
for the good of the team, even if the possibility of greater cash exists
down the road, when the team is successful.  How would you ever get
players to play for the Clippers then?  OK, we'll get rid of the crappy
expansion teams.  Yeah, the players would love that.  How many of them
would you like to put out of work?