Does Jay-Z have to look cool all the time, even with a tilted hardhat? What Ratner did will definitely be studied at Harvard Business School for years.
The silly owners-vs-players argument seems to be the same for NBA and NFL. The players' assets are their special sports talents. The owners' assets are the real estate and team name, under the protective umbrellas of the NBA/NFL monopolies. But say the Jerry Joneses and Mark Cubans of the world decided to retire and donate the franchises to charity. The players wouldn't be screwed. A new bunch of billionaires would build new arenas, pay the athletes probably higher salaries, and the only difference would be the New York Knights (TM) instead of the Brooklyn Nets (TM). Say Lebron and Brady decided to retire as well - their presence would be missed much more.
Profits (economic rent) should go to the scarcest, more demanded resources - in this case the players. People don't watch the games because of who owns the teams. The only reason the owners have such bargaining leverage is the anti-competitive nature of pro sports, so that other interested billionaires can't make better offers. Some thought it was ridiculous that NFL stars complained that they were treated like "slaves," but there are some undeniable similarities (and obviously some notable differences, like their still-enormous salaries, which should be bigger at market rates though). The AFL, USFL, and ABA tried to offer legit alternatives (in some cases paying players better and offering a more entertaining brand of sport), but the NFL/NBA used their legal-political-financial muscle to absorb or ruin them. Check out the ESPN "30 for 30" documentary on the USFL if you have time. They actually won an anti-trust case against the NFL, but they foolishly sought only $1 in symbolic damages, so the legal fees from that fight ruined them (and so did Donald Trump, seriously).
http://30for30.espn.com/film/
So for the owners to piss and moan that they're going broke is a joke. If they don't like the business, then quit and start a hedge fund. There will be a line a block long to buy their franchise - since for a rich guy, it's such a rare feather to have in your cap, like a Picasso. It's not meant to make money (even though it does, plenty), it's a hobby to them. It's like the rich CEOs going to DC to beg for bailouts in their private jets and $10,000 suits.
"The rich have gone from being grateful for what they have to pushing for everything they can get. They have mastered the arts of whining and predation, without regard to logic or shame. In the end, this is the lesson of the NBA lockout. A man buys a basketball team as insurance on a real estate project, flips the franchise to a Russian billionaire when he wins the deal, and then — as both parties happily count their winnings — what lesson are we asked to draw? The players are greedy."
Emphasis was mine.
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