How To Solve The NBA's Financial Woes: My Dumbest Idea Ever…

I hate the direction that basketball is going in. It is on the verge of being financially doomed. This is what I propose to solve this issue.

Next year, when the owners and players’ union renegotiate the collective bargaining agreement, the owners should propose that the players get paid entirely in percentages.

Here is what I mean (totally hypothetical with the numbers here): Instead of offering LeBron a max deal of $25 million a season; offer LeBron a max deal of six percent of the franchise’s annual income.

You might be wondering what this would accomplish. Well, the correct answer is, a lot.

For starters, significantly more power would rest in the hands of the player. Solid play by the player often results in solid play by the team, which is directly proportional to fan attendance. So in the sense of game play it would work both ways.

Owners wouldn’t have to worry about players playing lazy, because for the first time ever, their play would directly interfere with their cash flow.

From the players’ point of view however, it is even better. In essence, you control your own destiny.

The better you play, the more people want to see you, the more jersey’s they buy, the more you make.

The flexibility of percentage pay sees its greatest advantage in a team’s bottom line. In a year where more than 50 percent of the league is losing money and still owes its players hundreds of millions of dollars; percentage pay would make it so that salaries would flex with team income.

Basically this would transform the NBA from a selfish terrible organization run by cheaters and greed; and transform it into a recession-proof sporting monster.

Now, all players would not be on board with the gamble of a percentage pay idea. This is how you fix it.

There would still be a cap to how much you can give out. For example; let’s say each team has a cap of 20 percent of the team’s earnings (I think in reality, the number would be significantly lower than that, but this is just hypothetical), and the max you can offer an individual is six percent.

You would be able to roughly translate that six percent, based on the team’s previous economic performance, to about 21 million dollars.

The item that would reassure the player that he would not run the risk of either making $30 million or making $8 million; would be the basement rule (patented by takeoverthegame.com).

This is where every team would have to continue to take calculated risks, thus making every team much more competitive. Based on each team’s unique revenue statistics, they would have to make a basement offer to each player.

For example, if you made the assumption that six percent would equal $21 million that year, you are obligated to pay the player no less than $17 million.

While it is an immense risk, a successful player on a successful team could easily hit the 40 million mark; and I think that prospect would be enough to sway a lot of the league’s players.

Plus, it puts the NBA in a much better position than its two biggest competitors. It would be fairer to the players than the NFL, where contracts aren’t guaranteed and players could potentially get nothing.

It would also be fairer to the MLB owners who deal with the most out-of-control union on the planet.

I never liked math, but for whatever reason, I think it has potential. What do you think, America?