A Year Without Sports?

An interesting scenario has arisen in the past few weeks and months: the prospect of a year without some of our major sports. 

It is a perfect storm of sorts, with the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) expiring for MLB, the NFL, and the NBA in 2011.  The NFL’s agreement expires as a result of the owners opting out of the CBA, which will now include an uncapped season in 2010.

The league with the least likelihood of a work stoppage is, ironically, Major League Baseball.  It is ironic because it seemed that every four to five years between 1970-1994 there was either a players’ strike or a lockout on the part of the owners. 

The wrinkle that will be thrown in is more comprehensive drug testing (i.e. blood samples for HGH), or perhaps even a movement for a salary cap once again.  The players will resist further testing, citing the "three strikes and out’" policy is harsh enough, but their union has enough egg on their face over the past five to six years that the league may have the right amount of leverage to push this through. 

However, a lot of things may happen between now and then.

The NBA is facing the direst of situations right now—the league is going to lend several teams money to close operating costs during this tough economic period. 

They stand the greatest chance of having a lockout; it has been made plain as day that the league and the owners are looking to overhaul the revenue system and the salary structure—shorter contracts, elimination of mid-level exceptions, and other quirks that allow teams to skirt the salary cap, as well as the raising of the minimum age to enter the league.  

If the players don’t agree to these provisions, there will be no NBA season to begin in the fall of 2011.  Look for a lot of pushing and shoving, but the league has the players over a barrel here, just like they did after the 1998-99 lockout.  This time, though, the owners know it and will press is to their advantage.

The NFL is the one league that I hope has the work stoppage.  Of course, because I want it to happen, all of a sudden, the NFLPA and the ownership will announce a 30-year CBA that will be renewed automatically indefinitely. 

Just my luck. 

The signs are all there: owners opted out of the CBA, and a lot of chatter about contracts and the salary cap implications.  What makes this situation interesting is the uncapped 2010 season. 

Why? 

Because once players get a taste of no cap, they may never want to go back, and the owners will get buyer’s remorse and smaller market teams may become permanent minor-league-style franchises without their brand of socialism and corporate welfare. 

The league and the owners will then attempt to re-impose a salary cap for 2011, and the players will strike against it.  It will thus shatter the perception that the NFL is the "most peaceful" league when it comes to labor relations.

So what are we to do if this "perfect storm" comes to pass? 

My recommendation is to go with it; all of us sports nuts can use a cleansing of the system periodically.  Then, support amateur sports as much as you can—club, youth leagues, high schools, colleges, or watch the NHL and other alternative pro sports. 

If the athletes in the pros want to deprive us of their company because of squabbling between millionaires and billionaires, then that is their loss.   As much as it would pain a lot of us to see this vanish, it could be a re-invigorating time for ourselves, a time to soothe the soul.

Time will tell.