COVID-19 and NBA Contracts
Having your name on a pair of footwear means you’re good. You are on top of your game. That is why Nike, Adidas and other brands put your name on a pair of sneakers.
It’s good business, money in the bank. Fans will buy them because of the name. You will get a cut of course, because you are in the hall of fame, basketball fame. Most little boys want to play in the NBA for that fame and fortune.
The fortune part might be cut in half because of COVID-19. NBA games are about people packed arm to arm on uncomfortable seats and loving it. Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, makes a profit if Raptors fans buy all 19,800 seats.
The United Center in Chicago loves season ticket holders and other fans that buy the 21,000 seats in the house. Jim Dolan, New York Knicks owner who tested positive for coronavirus in March, is not a philanthropist. He sleeps soundly when all 19,810 seats at the Madison Square Gardens have butts, when Knicks are playing .
AFTER COVID-19
Some restaurants have reduced tables to accommodate the six feet apart directive. Will sports centers be forced to do so?
Renovating them and literally yanking out some seats in all the rows will be costly and will gnaw into the NBA season. A possibility is having, let’s say, four people wearing masks in a row that used to have twelve.
That cuts profits. This could affect NBA salaries, the money that attracted little boys to basketball in the first place. Television and advertising are twins. Advertisers follow volume, large groups of people in one place who could buy the new shaving cream they are advertising.
These people are not only in one place, but they have the ideal vibe for advertising, which is happy. Enter COVID-19. There are less people in the basketball game and they are wearing masks. Not an ideal set-up for selling banks, chicken nuggets, soda, cellphones or chocolate bars.
COVID-19 affects advertising because people at home attach themselves to the television set to enjoy the vibe: the sports arena is packed, Drake is there cheering the Raptors, there are some bad boy rappers in the front row and suicidal celebrities in ludicrous stiletto heels, on a floor that needs sneakers or flats.
Now they are all wearing masks and the basketball house is half empty. Fans on site, at the game are also not happy.
1. Waiting to get into stadium. Long lines because of 6 feet apart.
2. Masks. Try and holler your team with a mask on.
3. Television fame: when cameras pan the crowd, friends cannot recognize us because of masks.
4. Washrooms. Lines will be longer if they are six feet apart.
5. Hamburger stalls. Less people will grab a bite if it means snake lines.
Where does that leave the game, the game Kobe Bryant left behind? Salaries. Advertisers will say it’s not business as usual. The NBA will also tell players that it is not four figure contracts as usual.
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) must be ready for the challenge.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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