So I'm a fan of Bill Simmons, a sportswriter for ESPN. He wrote an interesting article about the NBA and how it's being affected by the economic downturn, which I highly recommend.
I know I've been pretty negative about the economy, and I'm hopeful that things are on the upswing. I've seen data saying that we've passed through the worst... but I have my doubts. In my mind, the fundamental problem is that we continue to lend $$$ to people that can't repay the loan - be it home mortgages, cars, credit cards, or federal bailouts. And while those have slowed down, they certainly haven't stopped. In fact, it seems like certain people want those loans to increase back to previous, non-repayable rates.
Anyway, with the NBA the cliff note version of the article I linked above is this: that NBA contracts are huge, multi-million dollar contracts, which are completely separate from attendance and revenue streams. That is, the player gets payed for showing up, even if the stadium is empty. That's bad for the owners, because suddenly they're kicking out millions, but not making anything. After all, why kick out tons of money to go watch sports when you don't have money for groceries? Interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years...
1 comment:
When I was reading your post, I kept thinking about Karl Malone and what he would say in regards to all this. I'll bet it'd be pretty hilarious, I mean, the dude speaks in the third person, is most likely slightly mentally retarded, and thinks he's "the man" -- I'll bet he'd totally disagree with you, but at least it'd be funny.
And since I'm lazy and don't want to open another box, per your post titled "Teaching" ... sounds like you had a bad day ... hope it gets better.
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