Michael Jordan leads NBA owners: 50/50 too much

Michael Jordan leads NBA owners: 50/50 too much
Posted on: November 4, 2011 2:23 pm
Posted by Ben Golliver.

Just when you thought that the possible decertificiation of the National Basketball Players Association was the biggest threat to the 2011-2012 NBA season, the Greatest Basketball Player Of All Time is reportedly stepping into the forefront, reminding everyone that the world of hoops still revolves around him.

NBA legend Michael Jordan, the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, is reportedly leading a band of owners who believe that a 50/50 split of Basketball-Related Income is too much for the owners to give up.

The New York Times has the details.

The owners’ faction includes between 10 and 14 owners and is being led by Charlotte’s Michael Jordan, according to a person who has spoken with the owners. That group wanted the players’ share set no higher than 47 percent, and it was upset when league negotiators proposed a 50-50 split last month.

According to the person who spoke with the owners, Jordan’s faction intends to vote against the 50-50 deal, if negotiations get that far. Saturday’s owners meeting was arranged in part to address that concern.

A majority of the 29 owners are believed to support a 50-50 deal, but they are reluctant to move further. “There’s no one who’s interested in going above 50 percent,” said the person who has spoken with the owners.

Assuming the report's accurary, it's a fairly stunning about-face for Jordan. In 1998, just 13 years ago, Jordan famously told Abe Pollin, then owner of the Washington Wizards, that he should sell his team if he can't make a profit, rather than take a "hard stand" against the players. Fourteen years later, with the situation reversed, Jordan now so embodies hard-line ownership that he has become the group's public face.

Removing Jordan from this equation, you don't have to read too far between the lines to see what's happening.

This is the ownership's response to the idea that the threat of decertification might serve as leverage to improve the owners' offer to players during Saturday's negotiating session. It produces a clear choice for the players: Take a 50/50 split, which you say that you don't want, because it will be the best offer made, period. And, please, consider the fact that there is a large, vocal minority pushing the offer back the other direction if you decide not to accept it. In other words, this information attempts to incentivize the players to cave now rather than to cave later. It appeals to any insecurity they might have about the direction of the negotiations, presents 50/50 as a reasonable alternative to the season-spiking chaos that goes along with decertification, and attempts to extinguish any hope that 52.5 percent, or even 51 percent, is a future possibility.

That Jordan has become the front man for all of this could very well end up taking some of the luster off his pristine reputation as the years pass. Or, it could get swept under the rug like many of his other transgressions. His motiviations are clear enough. the Bobcats struggle to win games, struggle to sell tickets and struggle to generate revenue. They can make a better case than most teams that the NBA's current model is broken.

But the Bobcats' struggles will be lost in the shadow that Jordan's legend inevitably casts over everything in his vicinity. Each individual NBA player -- whether he's attended regional meetings, negotiating sessions, or not -- must now process the fact that the man many of them hold up as an idol on the court now clearly sits on the other side of the room in the current labor battle.

It's one thing to negotiate against NBA commissioner David Stern. It's quite another to know that Stern is the good guy trying to hold the greatest to ever lace them up in check. You couldn't blame NBA players if they felt deflated after reading this. Negotiating against lawyers is bad enough. Negotiating against your hero is damn near impossible.

comments...

Well I don't believe players should get a 50/50 split unless they help pay the rent on the arenas or the salaries of the concessionaires that run these stadiums and arenas. Let them go to work at something they are truly trained for ...flipping burgers at McDonalds or Burger King. Quite honestly I don't miss the NBA as all of their games are pretty much fixed on any given night. And college basketball is a much better product with out all the whining for phantom fouls. Fuck these over paid fucking whiners, see you at your new jobs, will you take my order please.
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'hate society for being so capitalistic' - That has to be one of the stupidest statements I have seen so far. Capitalism, personal freedom, and individual liberty have made the USA great and prosperous. While socialist and communist countries wallow in misery.

What we have here is player greed at the highest levels I have ever seen. Most of the owners/teams lost money last year, however, not one single player lost a penny. These team owners have bent over backwards and have went well beyond what they should be offering to a bunch of whiny thugs who play a game. The league, teams, and owners have their financial butts on the line.

We need to cut all players salaries by 30%, offer a split of 65/35, that is 35% for players which is still to much, and install salary caps. If the greedy damn players do not like that they can go play their game in Turkey or Greece, good luck getting a big salary overseas. Then the NBA can have a bigger, more robust draft next year and start all over. Draft college players that want to play the GAME and this will allow teams to lower ticket prices so the average fan can actually go afford to go to a game without selling an organ.

CANCEL THE SEASON AND FIRE THE WHINY, THUGISH, GREEDY PLAYERS. TO HELL WITH THEM.
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Michael Jordan is a prime example of why players should understand the owners' position. As workers that get paid VERY WELL and have relatively short careers they must be smart in their business and investment endeavors. Michael Jordan was very successful as a player and got paid well by the Chicago Bulls, Wizards and Hornets. The reason why he got paid very well was because he was a great employee. He helped the team win games and champioships and he helped the organization make money. Michael Jordan protected his image as much as possible for his own benefit, to make a ton of money on endorsements.

Today's players think they can demand more money just because they come out on highlights on ESPN, "posterizing" their opponents. Today's players rarely consider their image, spending a working class person's salary on tattoos and regularly getting arrested for domestic violence and drugs. Maybe they could make more money for the team and themselves with a better image. And they could make more money from endorsements.

The players should learn from Michael Jordan's example. Eventually they may be in some sort of business as an owner or part owner. And if they expect their investment to pay off they have to understand that labor must not control management. Expenses must be controlled and minimized without affecting the quality of the product. Otherwise the business will go bankrupt.

Obviously Michael Jordan is not a perfect human being. He has impressively used his physical talents to make a small fortune. He later used his intelligence to build that small fortune into a larger fortune. He has made many mistakes and overcome tremendous obstaces to become a leader in a field where he was once just an employee. There are not many cases like this. I wish him well. The players should be grateful to have someone that was once a player on the other side of this conflict. Who wouldn't listen to Michael Jordan. The owners have to listen to him, as he is part of their group. And they players should listen to him. He's the only "bad guy" who has an idea of what they go through.