Many in a field of top sports business experts appearing at the World Congress of Sports believe that all major sports leagues -- other than baseball -- are likely facing labor trouble, with some predicting that next season's NBA schedule will be shortened by a work stoppage. Talk of labor issues dominated the two-day event, which ended Thursday.
"I think certainly a lockout is by no means inevitable," said Ganz, the co-chair of Proskauer's Sports Law Group and someone who has advised the NBA on labor issues for more than 30 years. "There is plenty of time left to reach a new agreement. The parties have been engaged in negotiations. ... I'm sure there will be bargaining sessions scheduled shortly."
The NBA has said it expects a loss of about $350 million this season, and commissioner David Stern said late last year that owners would aim to reduce player salary costs by about $750 to $800 million annually.
So that has some executives, like Anschutz Entertainment Group President and CEO Tim Leiweke, hardly sounding optimistic.
"Are they really negotiating? It seems like they're talking past each other right now," Leiweke said.
And when asked if the NBA would lose more regular-season games than the NFL, Leiweke added, "I think the NBA's probably going to lose games, which is amazing."
NHLPA chief Donald Fehr, the longtime head of baseball's union, likens work stoppages in sport to "denial of service" for customers. In short, there's only one thing that can truly provide a fix for fans who seek NFL, NHL, NBA or MLB games -- that being NFL, NHL, NBA or MLB games.
"One of the risks management has is the customer can go to other suppliers," Fehr said. "If GM shuts down, they'll be buying Fords and BMWs. You can extrapolate that into basically any industry. In sports, we have effective cartels, and they're not really concerned that the customers are going to go anywhere else."
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