Sports Lockouts and Strikes
Sports Lockouts and Strikes
Humans have been playing sports since before recorded history in one form or another. But it wasn’t until 1972 that a professional sports team organized a strike. The strike lasted 13 days. Since then there have been numerous strikes and lockouts.
This year there are two lockouts on the horizon, the NFL and the NBA. The NFL lockout is mainly about the owners wanting to make more money. And the NBA lockout is about cutting the players salaries to help the teams that are struggling out.
What do the possible lockouts mean for the NBA and the NFL? The NHL had a lockout during the 2004-2005 season. They were the first major professional sports league in North America to cancel an entire season due to a lockout. This caused a lot of players to go to Canada or other countries to play, but for a lot less money. After the negotiations ended most of the players came back to the NHL. But some of the older players who did not play hockey at all that year, could not get back into game conditioning and had to retire. Also, some of the teams were sold after losing fan loyalty and revenue. Because of the 1998-99 NBA lockout ratings and popularity of teams and players dropped dramatically. The players were presented asavaricious, self-centered, and irresponsible with their money.
According to recent news articles the NFL should be reaching an agreement very soon. But the negotiations of the NBA looks very blight. After all they have been negotiating for over 2 years now. Only time will tell of the two sides can come to some middle ground by September.