NBA vs NFL: Punishments on Acts of Violence

Over the past several of weeks, the NFL has been in the spotlight in terms of domestic violence cases with a few star players.  This has been an issue in the league for many years now and has not seemed to get much better and Commissioner Roger Goodell has been very inconsistent in terms of his punishments.  But how does the domestic violence affect the NBA?

MLB Labor Lessons in 'Ball Four'

In the current day of free agency, eye-popping contract terms and super agents like Scott Boras, it's hard -- and for some of us, not possible -- to recall a point in time where these things didn't exist. It's even harder to recall a time when the major league minimum salary was in the four figures and the reserve clause was still holding players hostage.

What do you think it was like to be a player back in those times?

Jim Bouton's Ball Four illustrates exactly what it was like. And so much more.

The Man Advantage: "The Song Remains the Same" for NHL

When the NHL lost the entire 2004-05 season due to CBA negotiations and the resulting lockout, fans prayed the NHL Players Association and franchise owners would have learned their lesson. No one expected another lockout seeming likely a month before the 2012-13 season is set to begin. Lo and behold, here we are eight years later with the same sense of impending doom looming over the NHL as we did the last time the NHLPA and Board of Governors sat down to discuss collective bargaining. 

As I said four months ago, the NHL cannot afford another lockout. As reported by BleacherReport, it took the NHL six years to see its ratings recover from the previous lockout—another lockout would be disastrous. Many big name players (such as Joe Thornton and Rick Nash) are already rumored to have offers on the table from European teams for this next season.

Last week, Chris Botta of SportsBusiness Journal reported that “NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman received almost $8 million in salary and benefits during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011”, more than double what he made before the 2004-05 lockout. Making this worse, the league reported a loss of $14.7 million for this past fiscal year. The league is "losing money," but the commissioner (as well as several other top league officials) all saw significant increases to their salary.

Add in the looming labor strike (and a NBC Sports contract that still leaves much to be desired) and it’s a situation that seems daunting, at the very least. For the last few months, the league has done nothing to reassure fans of a peaceful resolution to this dispute—the league cancelled its annual season opening games in Europe, and Detroit recently cancelled the 15^th annual Traverse City Prospect Tournament because of the labor uncertainty. The preseason is likely next, and a prolonged dispute might also cancel the All Star Game, if not the entire season.

If the NHL wants to regain its position as one of the “Big Four” North American sports, they have to come to a solution quickly. Donald Fehr and the Player’s Association remain optimistic, but, with less than a month from the September 15^th deadline, there has been no progress in negotiations. There is still a wide gap between the owners and the NHLPA’s demands. Any work stoppage would be disastrous for the league. The NFL and NBA have had years of good favor with fans and the media to lean upon with their potential work stoppages--the NHL doesn't have that same luxury. 

The writing’s on the wall, and fans, it doesn’t look good.

The Chase for Lord Stanley's Cup: The Money Battles

The NHL Playoffs are underway, and we’ve already had enough excitement for an entire season for many fans in the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series, High scoring games, violent, passionate fights, spectacular saves, suspensions between bitter rivals, let alone the other fourteen teams still playing hockey.

Nevertheless, the battle behind the games wages on. The NHL is on the cusp of another CBA negotiation period—last time the NHLPA and Board of Governors met to renegotiate the CBA, there was a lockout that wiped out the entire 05-06 season, damaging the league’s standing as one of the “Big Four” sports.

Nontraditional markets like Los Angeles (leading Vancouver 3-0), Florida (leading New Jersey 2-1), Nashville (leading Detroit 2-1), and Phoenix (leading Chicago 2-1) are doing quite well this postseason. The question is: is this good for the NHL? One of the major concerns going into the 2004 lockout was parity—small market teams felt as if they did not have as good a chance to compete with the large market teams (the New York Rangers especially).

In the six (not counting this season) years since the lockout, we’ve seen six different champions between 10 different franchises. In the six seasons before the lockout, nine different teams made the Stanley Cup Finals, with 5 different champions. Since the lockout only two non-traditional market teams (Carolina in 05-06 and Anaheim in 06-07) have won the Cup. In the six seasons before the lockout, four nontraditional franchises made the finals (Anaheim, Dallas, Carolina, and Tampa Bay) made the finals, with two champions (Dallas in 1998-99, Tampa Bay in 2003-04). For all intents and purposes, there’s not been a remarkable difference.

The lockout has done little to help smaller/non-traditional market franchises. New Jersey, Florida, Columbus, New York Islanders, and Phoenix are all struggling financially, while two franchises (Phoenix and the now relocated Atlanta) have struggled to find ownership groups to solidify their futures financially.

Daniel Kaplan’s April 16 SBJ article, he discusses two first round foes, the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers, who have struggled to break even this past year. Without deep playoff runs, both are expected to finish millions in the red. This can partially be contributed to poor TV ratings. Florida’s 0.21 and New Jersey’s 0.34 ratings this past season ranked 30^th and 27^th in the entire NHL. To make matters worse, the teams average percentage of arena capacity at home games ranked 24^th (86.6%) and 23^rd (87.6%) in the league. Only one other playoff team, Phoenix (dead last, at 72.5%), had below 95% home attendance this season.

The league cannot continue to have franchises struggle so mightily. Something has to change. A major TV contract would go a long way, but the current NBC Universal deal leaves much to be desired compared to the other major sports. There has been very little progress on CBA negotiations thus far. The league cannot afford another season-damaging lockout.