Money talks

On Monday, the NBA announced that the television networks ESPN and TNT would retain the rights to air NBA games for the next nine years. The deal begins during the 2016-2017 season and extends until the 2024-2025 season. I could write about how influential this new deal is for the NBA in terms of gathering support for the game of basketball and marketing the NBA brand domestically and worldwide. I really could, and the NBA has never been more popular than it is right now, thanks to former Commissioner David Stern and current Commissioner Adam Silver.

But I won’t. Instead, I want to follow the money. According to a New York Times report, the deal’s value comes in at an average of $2.66 billion per year, which is a heavy increase from the $930 million per year the NBA currently makes from its TV and digital rights. Commissioner Silver has said that the new deal will also result in a “substantial increase” in team salary caps, but the methods of implementation for this heavy increase have yet to be determined.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was agreed upon by the players and the owners in December 2011, after a lockout that caused the season to begin on Christmas Day and consist of only 66 regular season games, instead of the standard 82. During those negotiations the league argued that it was losing about $370 million annually, and that 22 out of the 30 owners were losing money on a yearly basis. The players, in order to start playing basketball, had to agree to a deal in which they received 50 percent of the league’s annual basketball-related income (BRI). This might seem fair to split the income 50-50 between the players and owners, but when we see that players received 57 percent of BRI under the previous CBA, it is clear that the owners got the better end of the deal.

Both sides have the option of opting out of the current CBA following the 2016-2017 season, which is a mere three seasons away. With the new TV deal, along with how much NBA franchises are now being sold for, it is hard for players, especially Cleveland’s LeBron James, to believe that the owners are losing money. The Los Angeles Clippers, for example, were sold for $2 billion this past summer. Therefore, the players should fight for their share of the BRI in the new CBA. In addition, they should take advantage of the new salary cap to make decisions.

James signed a two-year, $42.1 million deal with the Cavaliers this summer, whereas the maximum deal he could have signed was for four years, $94.5 million. Why didn’t he take more money in addition to a longer contract, and thus greater job security?

“It was being a businessman,” James told ESPN. “I understand the business of this sport. It had a lot to do with it.”

James understood that, when he becomes a free agent at the end of the 2015-2016 season, he would have the opportunity to capitalize from the higher salary cap as a result of the new TV deal. It is the way of the NBA now. There is a constant struggle between the players and owners for money. Every player must make decisions like James did -- by not solely thinking of which team gives them the best situation to win and develop as a player, but also thinking about which team puts them in the best position financially. To do this, players must be educated on the evolving financial infrastructure of the league. Commissioner Silver is doing great things to market the NBA brand and gain money for the league. It is about time the players study up in order to keep what is justly theirs.