Richer Players = Longer Holdouts?
Here’s my theory about the long-lived NBA players’ strike (now on the verge of cancelling the 2011-2012 season).
It’s all about the money.
Not what the players are asking for, mind you.
Rather, what they currently make (or made).
Average Salary: $5 million
Once upon a time, when pro athletes made nothing and went on strike . . . they ran out of money — and back to the bargaining table — pretty quickly.
Today?
I suppose it’s possible to make $5 million a year and still be broke; years ago, Latrell Sprewell famously rejected a $10 million a year contract as “insulting,” adding “I got my family to feed.”
However, at least for those players whose lifestyle is a couple ticks on this side of profligate, you’d guess that kind of dough can pay the bills and mortgage(s) for awhile.
Especially if the players union properly prepared the players — its members — in advance of the strike (nice alliteration, huh?).
“Net” effect (sorry, bad pun): the NBA players should have ample war chests to wait out the negotiating stalemate.
