FREE ESSAY ON LOCKOUT, MICHAEL JORDAN AND NBA

LOCKOUT, MICHAEL JORDAN AND NBA

Did The Lockout And The Loss Of Michael Jordan Have A Negative Effect On The NBA
Disputes between the NBA Players' Union and owners extend deep into January of 98', the
NBA season was shortened to a 50 game schedule due to the disputes between the two groups
and the lockout of the players by the owners.. Before the beginning of the shortened
season on February 1 of 1999, many "experts" predicted a number of negative effects to
the NBA as a result of the labor disputes. Among these were; a decrease in attendance,
less support by the fans, non-competitive games by players that are out of shape , and a
season that wouldn't be as entertaining as people or the media were used to. 
However, after searching through the data , It is my opinion that the labor dispute has
caused certain situations that have actually benefited the NBA, both players and owners.
These situations that have been beneficial to the league include the rise in free-agency
moves, the shortened length of the season, , and the retirement of the best player ever
to play; Michael Jordan. 
The primary concern of league authorities after the lockout was how to keep the fans
interested. They had known from previous strikes in other leagues that these had very bad
effects on attendance. In fact, a study found that overall fan participation has
drastically exceeded expectations and has even increased from the past year. 
The most significant figure deals with the NBA's historical attendance figures, where the
average attendance in recent years (94-98) has been around 14,900, this years average
clearly contends with an average attendance of 14,912 (Evans 4/13/99). 
From the perspective of an economist one must ask why these stats occur. 
The answer is indeed due to the lockout. With a shortened season, teams are forced to
play 50 games in 90 days. This is extremely different than the normal season's 82 games
in 200 days. This has raised the level of competition because teams simply can't afford
to lose like they have in the past regular seasons. Phil Jackson, head coach of the Los
Angeles Lakers, summed this notion up best when he stated, "teams simply can't go on
losing streaks like past seasons or they will find themselves at home for the playoffs."
With teams playing as many as 6 games in as many nights, players are forced to perform
their best day in and day out, or else they will not be successful in such a short
season. This is not the case in an 82 game regular season because teams usually have as
much as a week in between games in order to rest. 
Another interesting result of the dispute between the players and the owners has to do
with free agency. Players today have more freedom to test their worth on an open market
more than ever. There were big name players switching teams more often. These newly
acquired free agents provided an increase in the level of play, and as a result increased
the level of excitement for the fans. Nearly every team has a recognized player that can
draw fans to the games. The fans of the NBA were given an incentive to see their own
franchise perform well, whether it be to see a newly acquired player, or to root against
one that left and is now back in town to play his old team . These numerous free agent
moves caused a new interest for fans who follow the league . Fans are interested in what
stars are playing where (Pippen is in Portland), as well as who specific players are
being coached by and if everyone is getting along (Shaq and Kobe with Phil at the head).
Whatever the reason, the fact remains that today's free agent moves have caused an
increase in fan participation because in general, people are intrigued by the changes
occurring in the NBA. 
The shortened season has also been beneficial to television ratings because basketball
fans can now expect nationally televised NBA action on the affiliated TNT and TBS
stations every weekday night, as well as on NBC both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. With
everyone's season being shortened and free agency providing so many teams with star
caliber players, fans could be certain that games would be on whenever they turn on the
television. Whereas during a regular season networks such as TNT would only televise
games a few nights a week. For this reason, ratings for the shortened season were
comparable to those of previous years. The shortened season games have exhibited an
average rating index of 2.54, just below the average 2.565 that was observed during the
previous year's regular season (Evans 4/13/99). What these rating indexes mean in
laymen's terms is that the NBA really hasn't experienced a negative effect due to the
lockout by the owners.
Club owners made many adaptations due to the shortened season which would increase ticket
revenues. One such method that has worked in raising ticket revenues in many different
cities is ticket packages. A person no longer has to purchase tickets for a single game
or a whole season, but rather fans can now purchase competitively priced ticket packages
weekly that allow them to see a few games in one week. Frank Layden, Vice President of
basketball operations for the Utah Jazz, credits these newly-developed ticket packages
for increasing attendance: "More fans are now buying tickets for a few games rather than
just one, which allows them to see more games than they would in a normal season" (Layden
3/4/99).
Perhaps the saddest result of the lockout on the NBA, and the one that has received the
least attention, is the retirement of Michael Jordan. His retirement is an effect of the
lockout because who is to say that if the lockout hadn't occurred that Mike wouldn't have
returned? It has become common knowledge that Jordan was the most influential sports
figure in history. David Faulk, Jordan's agent of 14 years, estimated that with his many
endorsements, merchandise sales, and ticket revenues, Jordan "initiated circulation of
over 7.7 billion" dollars into the "American economy" by himself (Layden 3/7/99). The
retirement of this Great athlete lead to a number of predictions that the NBA would now
lose much of its attractiveness. I for one don't care much for the game anymore without
Jordan. He was one of a kind when it came to his entertaining ,competitive style of play,
that held all of us glued to the television just to see what he would do next. I still
haven't found anyone that has captured my attention as he did in the NBA. However, due to
the statistics that were displayed earlier it becomes apparent that Jordan's retirement
really hasn't had as big of a negative impact as what was once thought.
Using simple economic thought, a person can figure out what Jordan's retirement has done
to the NBA. The entire past decade has been dominated by Jordan's Chicago Bulls who won 6
of the last 8 championships. This has caused fans to realize that Jordan's unmatched
skill and talent with his unparalleled competitiveness would not allow opposing teams to
win when they were in the playoffs. One could say that Jordan and the Bulls could be
compared to Microsoft. They held a monopoly on the league because all other franchises
really had no legitimate shot to win it all, just as Microsoft holds a "monopoly" on
internet servers due to the fact that they have the software and a head start on
everybody else. This may have caused many people to be somewhat uninterested in the NBA
because everyone assumed that the Bulls would end up winning it all no matter who stood
in thier way. 
Those who don't believe this theory would say that Jordan's exciting play actually caused
a dramatic increase in fan support for the Bulls and the NBA. Although this fact cannot
be denied, one must understand that the only ones in the league that were benefiting the
presence of M.J. were the Bulls. Sure people packed the arena to see the Bulls play, but
how many watched that exciting Orlando-Miami game when the Bulls-Lakers game was on the
same night. So it can be said that as great as M.J. was , ands as much attention he
brought to the league, his presence actually hurt the other teams because he drew the
attention away from other players that would have otherwise been in the spotlight. In
fact, if you ask any player the hardest competition besides playing against the man on
the court, was competing against him for the attention of the fans.
One must understand that the primary goal of the NBA or any other professional sports
league is to provide popular entertainment in order to make huge profits. The occurrence
of the lockout had many critics predicting an economic and financial crash for all the
many services involved with the NBA. However, what these experts failed to take into
account was the beneficial aspects that resulted because of such an occurrence. The
issues that have brought up are explanations that argue to support the lockout and how
that it didn't have a negative effect to the economy of professional basketball
Due to the reasons stated above, along with the many statistics, it becomes extremely
hard for someone to establish that the NBA lockout has had a significantly negative
impact on the league's economic status. We are now in the middle of the playoffs with the
Lakers looking like the favorite. The fact that a lockout even took place is far in our
minds as fans. It appears that the league is still intact and that they are still
profiting from our love for the game. It isn't that hard to see how powerful professional
sports are. They are huge cash cows , and when milked properly not even a tiny labor
dispute and lockout can have a negative effect on its survival.
Over the course of my research my coherent argument claim has changed significantly. My
theory was based on articles and books that I have read that discussed the effects of the
NBA lockout on the league's finances, attendance, and revenues. I did find some
statistics and as I continued my research new data continually changed my argument's
claim. Below are my claim's and how each one of them changed chronologically with my
research. 
Initial Claim: The NBA lockout and the loss of Michael Jordan has had a negative effect
on the NBA.
Revised Claim While the NBA lockout brought negative effects to the economic structure of
the league, not as many games = not as much money, it has also provided a few scenarios
that have actually proved beneficial to the league's popularity as well as it's economic
standing . 
Bibliography
Bibliography
1.) Layden, Frank. "The Future is Now" http://nba.com/news/layden-q&a.html 3/14/00.
2.) Street and Smiths. "www,streetandsmiths.com/nba/statistics/lockout-attendance.html.
3/7/00. 
3.) Aldridge, David. "Life Without Michael." ESPN The Magazine. April 5, 1999. Vol.2 No.
7 pg. 134-135.
4.) Harper, Brian. "The Hidden Game-Effects of the NBA Lockout."
http://www.allsports.com/nba/stats/Features/020699-effects.htm. 2/12/00.