Boycott the NBA: Fans Should Reclaim the Power

The labor dispute of the NBA has finally reached its boiling point. The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has opted to disband the union and take their chances in court. At a time when the rest of the world is figuring out how to make changes with economies on the downward trend, the owners of the NBA and the players are fighting over how to split money and how the business should be run.

There are people who will blame the owners and there are others that will blame the players. I find it very humorous when people blame just one side or the other. Doing so is very ignorant of exactly what has taken place and the issues being fought over.  Each side is to blame.

I tend to side a little more with the owners. The way I see it, they are the ones that put up all the financial risks associated with owning the team. The players act like they are partners, but don’t want to be burdened with the risks involved. The owners’ profits fluctuate with how well their teams do, while the players have guaranteed contracts no matter how they perform. For this reason I believe that the owners do have a right to try to put a system in place that will allow them to be competitive and make some money. After all the owners have a right to make a profit on their business.

Even with that said, both sides are to blame for this mess they have gotten into. I’ve gotten more and more fed up with the players and the owners trying to act sympathetic to the fans. Unfortunately the fans interests or wants are completely ignored throughout all this. When I sat and thought about this it made less and less sense. I mean where does the money come from that goes to pay the players’ salaries and line the owners’ pockets?  The answer is that it comes from the fans.

So why aren’t the fans considered at all through all of this? It would seem that the parties involved don’t care about the fans because they believe that no matter what happens the fans will come back. If you look at it from their point of view you can’t really blame them. While the game increased in popularity it wasn’t good enough just to take those profits and be happy. The players wanted bigger salaries and the owners didn’t want to lose their profits. So they continually increased ticket prices and concession prices to the point the average fans can’t afford to attend many games if any.

I completely understand the players wanting to make as much money as they can. This is how a capitalist society works. I just wish the players would realize that they are paid huge sums of money to play a game. I also understand wanting certain rights because it is their career. Again though, everyone should put it into context of what they really are doing.

At some point this will all get worked out either legally or through some type of compromise between the owners and players. They will come back and start a campaign to regain public support and say how much the fans mean to them all the while still trying to squeeze the most out of them. I don’t believe this is fair. I think they owe it to the fans to come back to reality. They should lower the tickets and keep the prices low. It shouldn’t be a one season decrease like the last time and shouldn’t just be lip service.

The NBA should get back to being more about the fans. In order for this to happen, the fans will have to do something drastic. They will have to do something that will really get the players and the owner’s attention. Fans should boycott the NBA and the players till the game is given back to the fans. To do this fans would have to be united on a mass scale and not give in to the temptation to buy tickets or merchandise.

If you have the same feelings I do sign this petition that will be sent to the NBA commissioner, David Stern, and the NBPA. Also use the hash tag of #fansboycottnba on any tweets about this topic.

I would like to believe that there would be enough interest of fans to do this, but I’m just not sure. I would like to think that fans are more intelligent than what they players and owners think of them. I guess only time will tell. In the meantime I say let’s start a movement and see where it goes. Maybe, just maybe we can make a difference and reclaim a great sport.

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