Legendary Basketball Tycoon

After a disappointing season, everyone is also looking forward to the 98-99 New York Hans rebounding from the bottom.

But, before the regular season or even the preseason, a big event happened in the NBA!

This incident affected all the teams in the 98-99 season so much that it disrupted all the plans of these teams during the year.

As we all know, after Jordan retires, the question left to fans is: "What do you watch next season?" Then the NBA's lockout tells fans: "Nothing to watch."

If it is said that before the NBA shut down in 1998, the NBA also experienced two lockouts in 1995 and 1996, but the suspension caused the new season to shrink for the first time in NBA history.

There are huge differences between labor and management, which is the main reason for the suspension of the NBA. In the past few seasons, the wages of NBA players have risen too fast, causing 15 of the 29 teams in the league to face losses. This has caused the management (team owner) to modify the salary cap system. In addition, the management (team owner) hopes to control the player’s share of "basketball-related revenue" at 51.8% (this share has reached 57% at the time) and cap the salaries of high-paid players. All of these have caused labor. (Players) objection.

The two sides began negotiations in March 1998, and they were still fruitless on June 22. For this reason, David Stern announced that the suspension would begin on July 1. The preseason game was cancelled. Negotiations between labor and management caused the regular season to not be held normally, so the arbitration judge John Frick ruled that during the suspension period, management does not need to pay player wages. So that by the end of December, the All-Star Game was forced to cancel.

On December 23 (Christmas Eve), Stern issued an ultimatum, stating that if no agreement is reached on January 7, he will announce the cancellation of the new season. At this time, the internal division of the players union occurred. Under the manipulation of the famous agent David Falke, the high-paid players led by the chairman of the players union, Patrick Eugene, broke with other players. Under pressure, the executive director of the union, Billy Hunter and Stern finally reached an agreement, and finally the two sides signed a new contract on January 20, and the 204-day shutdown ended. The management introduced a "luxury tax," which stipulates that the average salary of NBA players is between 9 million and 14 million, and that rookie salaries are paid according to the draft. As compensation, the management retained the "Bird Clause."

To put it bluntly, the "Bird Clause" is for those big-name players. This is an attitude of the management.

There are two attitudes of the management. One is to win over the hearts of the people and appease those stars. After all, the players’ union representatives who negotiate with them are mostly stars. The ordinary players are not listening to the arrangements of these stars. This is normal, that is, the stars are the leaders, and the ordinary players are the staff, and only the leader is in front. Negotiating with the boss, these staff members shouted and cheered on the side!

The second is to take economic interests into consideration, because only the emergence of the "Bird Clause" can make the ball market more stable. Most fans still like to see the team's long-term veterans appear, because these veterans are either for the ball. The team paid everything, or they are the stars. Most fans have to look at history in addition to watching the excitement. There are no veterans. In this case, the players will leave after a few years. Who is the reason why fans go to the scene to watch the game!

The impact of the lockout is far-reaching. Fans who were saddened by Jordan's retirement have become less interested in the NBA.

So much so that in this lockout, both labor and management are losers. But at this point, Bruce is definitely the representative of shrugging, because the New York Hans are the most profitable team in the league, even the giants Celtics and Lakers can’t compare, let alone the Knicks who are also in New York. Up.

Let me tell you this. The reason why the New York Hans has become the most profitable team in the NBA is first of all ticket income. This is the most direct way of income, but the income gap between the teams is large. Generally speaking, teams with superstars have higher ticket yields. At this point, regardless of the annual performance of the New York Hans, whether there are stars or not, the Island Garden Arena is full of people. Without him, because Bruce is a Chinese, there are many local Chinese in New York, even in New York. If people don't support it, those Chinese will come to join in.

Then there is advertising revenue. When watching live broadcasts, you can often see various advertisements appearing on the stadium. Don't think that these ads are hanging up for free, and the price is so high that many people are "stunned." The lowest in a year is also 9 digits, and for some small companies, they dare not release it at all. Most of them are products owned by large companies. In many cases, domestic companies can still be seen. It can only be said that domestic companies are rich or rich. Since the founding of the Hans in New York, whether it is domestic or Chinese advertisements, it is really overwhelming. The management has been weakened, especially the Chinese advertisements, and other teams in the league are jealous. .

Next comes the peripheral services. There are various shops in the NBA arena. When you see the jerseys and sneakers you like, you are naturally willing to pay for it. There are also stadium parking fees, player drinks sponsor fees, stadium luxury private rooms, and so on. These are also sold madly. There is no way that the New York Hans left. Garnett still has Kobe and Mourning. This is the power of the stars.

Finally, there is TV broadcasting. Broadcasting fees are the biggest source of revenue for the NBA. Think about how many people watch the NBA in the world. It is definitely not free to want to broadcast. This kind of broadcast fee is very expensive, and the signing of exclusive broadcast rights is even more expensive. But these are all linked to the league. After a season, the league divides each team into a division. However, the percentage of the New York Hans is relatively high, especially in China, which is a long-term buyout of all the live broadcasts of the New York Hans. (Including the regular season and the playoffs), this area is incomparable to any team in the league.

So no matter how the labor and management stalemate, it’s not about Bruce’s business, because even if the NBA is shut down, he can still make a profit, and it’s not low. Don’t forget that the above-mentioned conditions did not appear in the game. The same can happen in the offseason, such as peripheral services, the value of jerseys and sneakers sold in the store is also completely owned by Bruce.

This led to the fact that in the process of labor and management negotiations, Bruce only sent the team's general manager Mitch Kupchak as the main leader, and the president's special assistant Bob Myers was supplemented by him to attend the labor negotiations. As for Bruce himself, he still doesn't listen to the world, and he only reads the sage books to practice on the Seattle campus!