I wrote the following for my Human Geography Class. I hope you enjoy.
Currently
the National Basketball Association, or NBA, is experiencing a work
stoppage. The collective bargaining
agreement that the National Basketball Players Association, or the NBPA, and
the NBA owners had been operating under for the past 10 years ran out after
this past season ended. In negotiating
for a new deal many different topics have been fought over including how
basketball related income, or BRI, is divided between the players and owners, length
of contracts players can be signed to, the possibility of a harder salary cap,
and many other smaller matters including the Mid-Level Exception. The one issue that is pertinent in this case study
however is the possibility of merging, contracting or moving NBA franchises. Bill Simmons states in his article “Behind
the Pipes: Into the Arms of the NHL”:
I
think we should contract/merge several franchises until we settle at 27 teams;
I think Seattle should have a team; I think Chicago should have two teams. I
don't think that the L.A., Chicago and New York teams should pay to keep
struggling basketball teams afloat in Charlotte, Indiana, Sacramento,
Milwaukee, Minnesota and New Orleans.
It is important to
note that Chicago, unlike New York and Los Angeles, currently does not split
its media market between two teams.
Simmons is the foremost expert on the NBA, particularly when it comes to
off the court topics, and much of his work will be used throughout this case
study. This case study will examine the
current spatial distribution of NBA franchises and how that distribution
affects the league and its teams.
All
of the NBA franchises in the United States are located in cities that are in
the top fifty media markets in the U.S. (“Top 50 U.S. Television Markets”). The NBA has teams in each of the top ten
media markets in the U.S. including two in Los Angeles and New York, the top
two media markets in the United States.
The largest market left vacant by the NBA is Seattle, where the NBA did
have a franchise from 1967 until 2008 when the Supersonics left Seattle to
become the Oklahoma City Thunder (Sandomir).
Ironically enough Oklahoma City is now the smallest media market with a
NBA franchise at 45th. Moreover there is an NBA franchise in 17 of
the top 20 media markets in the United States (“Top 50 U.S. Television
Markets”); needless to say media market size is a major factor in the
distribution of NBA franchises.
Now
that it has been established where NBA franchises are located and why they are
located where they are, media market size and regional appeal, the next step is
to look at what effect location has on an individual franchise both on and off
the court. When it comes to
championships won, the 8 franchises in the top 6 media markets have won 41 of
the 63 NBA championships since the inception of the league (Florida) that is 65%
of the league’s championships held by just 20% of the league’s franchises. In theory if every team actually had an equal
shot of winning the championship, something it seems the league would like,
these numbers would be more proportional.
Now in a total free market system this would make a lot of sense that
these teams are winning a disproportionate about of titles but the NBA is not
set-up to be a total free market system, it actually has rules and regulations
such as a salary cap, the luxury tax, inexpensive rookie contracts and even
some revenue sharing in order to ensure as much parity as possible but
obviously none of those measures have worked.
The first red flag that would indicate why these teams have such a
competitive advantage on the court is because they, more than likely, make the
most money off it. Of the 8 franchises
in the cities within the top 6 media markets 4 are also in the top 8 in total
revenue and those same four franchises, the Los Angeles Lakers, New York
Knicks, Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics, are the four most valuable franchises
in the league . If you count only those
four most valuable franchises 13% of the league’s teams hold 57% of the
league’s championships, an even more striking statistic than just looking at
the media markets alone ("The NBA's Most Valuable Teams"). Money is not everything though, the New York
Knicks play in both the largest media market in the country (“Top 50 U.S.
Television Markets”) and are the most valuable franchise in the league ("The
NBA's Most Valuable Teams") but only have 2 championships to their name
both coming in a three year span almost 40 years ago. A factor that cannot be ruled out is the
ability for players to choose the team of their choice in free agency. Players tend to prefer major media market
cities, wealthy franchises, winning tradition, and warm locations. Milwaukee for example is neither of these; it
is the sixth smallest market (“Top 50 U.S. Television Markets”), is the least
valuable franchise in the league ("The NBA's Most Valuable Teams"),
has just one championship to their name and is notoriously cold. It is no wonder players like John Salley,
Gary Payton, and Todd Day had absolutely no desire to come to and play in Milwaukee
(Schmidt). The team that best
illustrates how to overcome its geographic hurdles is the San Antonio Spurs. The
Spurs have won 4 titles over the past decade and is second in the league in
championships per capita behind only Boston whose 17 championships keep it on
top of the pile (Florida) even though it is the sixth largest media market in
the league while San Antonio is the 4th smallest media market in the
league (“Top 50 U.S. Television Markets”) but is in a warm climate and, in no
small part to its four championships, is the ninth most valuable team in the
league despite having the 12th most revenue ("The NBA's Most
Valuable Teams"). So the case of
San Antonio shows that geographic disadvantages can be overcome but they are one
of the few franchises that have shown the capability to do so. Only Detroit and Houston have current
franchises not in the top six media markets that have won multiple titles
(Florida). There is no doubt that money
and media market size play a tremendous role in determining what a franchise is
capable of.
When
it comes to the current lockout, the idea from the owner’s perspective is that
the league is losing money and thus must restructure the collective bargaining agreement
with the NBPA in order to become profitable.
The owners have a point; over half of the franchises in the league lose
money year to year ("The NBA's Most Valuable Teams"). So
examine Simmons’ proposal of making two new franchises out of four existing
ones. Chicago currently has one team,
the Bulls, that is the third most valuable, has the third highest revenue and
has the second highest operating income in the league ("The NBA's Most
Valuable Teams"). Surely the city
could support another team. He also
wants a team to return to Seattle; a team there would secure a franchise in 14
of the top 15 and 18 in the top 20 media markets (“Top 50 U.S. Television
Markets”) something that, as demonstrated above, tends to lead toward both on
the court and off the court success. The
new object is to find what four teams to contract or merge in order to make
this possible. Combining factors of
market size, franchise value, revenue and operating income those four
franchises should be Milwaukee, Charlotte, Memphis and New Orleans. If the owners merged these four teams into
two new teams as they saw fit and place one in Seattle and one in Chicago they
would be able to make concessions in other areas and get the league back up and
running which would be better for the owners, players, cities and fans.
Works Cited
Florida, Richard. "Is the Geography of NBA Dominance
Shifting?."Creative Class, 1 June 2011.
Web. 20 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2011/06/01/is-the-geography-of-nba-dominance-shifting/>.
Map of NBA Teams. Map. SLC Dunk. SB Nation, 5
Mar. 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.slcdunk.com/2011/3/5/2031804/nba-divisional-realignment-a-modest
proposal>.
"The NBA's Most Valuable Teams." Forbes.
Ed. Kurt Badenhausen, Michael K. Ozanian, and
Christina Settimi. Forbes, 26 Jan.
2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/32/basketball-valuations-11_land.html>.
Sandomir, Richard. "Sonics Given Approval to Move to Oklahoma."
New York Times
19 Apr. 2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/sports/basketball/19sonics.html?ref=
seattlesupersonics>.
Schmidt, Jeremy. "Best of a Bad Situation: 19. Todd
Day." Bucksketball. Ed. Jeremy Schmidt.
26 Aug. 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.bucksketball.com/2011/08/>.
Simmons, Bill. "Behind the Pipes: Into the Arms of the
NHL." Grantland. Ed. Bill Simmons.
ESPN, 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Oct.
2011.
<http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7123705/arms-nhl>.
"Top 50 U.S. Television Markets." Janson Media.
Janson Media, 26 Dec. 2008. Web.
20 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.janson.com/media/2008/12/26/top-50-us-television-markets/>.
