Storyteller

From ESPN.com


Questions about Stern's comments:

1) If attendance is up and revenue is down, does that mean:

a. Teams sold a lot of "cheap seats" but couldn't fill all of their big money tickets (boxes, suites, courtside seats)?

or

b. Non-ticket revenue (concession sales, promotions, etc.) were down significantly?

or

c. A little bit of both a & b?



2) How much will this affect the summer announcements regarding the salary cap and luxury tax? It's always been a safe bet that the luxury tax was going to kick in this summer, but this would indicate that the Team Escrow Limit (luxury tax threshhold) might be lower than expected. Will some team that thought they were going to avoid tax get burned?

As for next year's salary cap, most of us predicted it would rise to about $45 million next year. Might it now stay closer to the same?

We'll have to wait until July to see the answers to these questions....


3) What does this mean for FA signings this summer? After all, the predictions were that there was a good chance of the luxury tax being avoided in 2005. Now, if the chances are greater because of lower than expected revenue, you can bet that the pursestrings will close a little more this summer for FA's. The big names will still get their money, but this might convince teams to - again - avoid using some of their MLE, or any of it for that matter. More of last summer's "Stephen Jackson scenarios" might be in store - players not getting anything close to what they imagined they would be offered.


4) Finally, does this cast a shadow on the upcoming negotiations for the new CBA? Will owners be less likely now to give up the Escrow system? Will uncertainty regarding revenue drag the signing of a new CBA out longer - perhaps into a labor stoppage? (God forbid!)


Personally, I found the announcement very surprising - especially considering that attendance is up. It will be interesting to see what figures the bean counters come up with this summer....