The NBA is "adjusting to new realities as the league navigates its first lockout in 13 years," including changes to its website, according to Howard Beck of the N.Y. TIMES. In addition to stripping "all images of its 400-plus players from its Web sites, replacing them with cheerleaders, mascots and somber-looking portraits of Commissioner David Stern," the NBA on its home page has included "a 'Labor Central' button and a prominent history section." Past players also are "dominating" the schedule on NBA TV, which Saturday featured a "10-hour block of dunk contests, all from 1994 and earlier, before any of today's players had entered in the league" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/2). In L.A., Douglas Farmer noted fans "now see pages advertising a team, but no stories about the players on that team." Prior to the start of the lockout, "every NBA team website featured at least one All-Star or at least one 2011 draft pick," and the teams "used these images to help fans get to know the new players, market ticket sales and glamorize the sites in general." But Farmer noted, "Now those spaces are occupied by mascots, logos and cheerleaders. ... Cheerleaders and auditions for cheerleaders are featured on some websites, but no stars." Meanwhile, the NFL lockout began in March, but its website is "still filled with videos of touchdown celebrations and news updates." The NFL "negotiated its licensing deal separately from its CBA, thus sidestepping this issue" (LATIMES.com, 7/1). In Oklahoma City, Jenni Carlson wrote "as near as anyone can tell, neither the NBA nor its teams have any compelling reason" to remove the player images. Carlson: "Not legally anyway. It's likely a symbolic move, a thumb of the nose to the players" (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 7/5). NBA.com's David Aldridge wrote, "We're caught in the middle here at NBA.com. You have no doubt noticed the scrubbing of both this website and those of the league's teams of all images and videos of the players." The move is "not to try to make people 'forget' the players during the lockout." Aldridge: "We can show and write about players who are directly involved in the labor talks, like NBPA union president Derek Fisher" (NBA.com, 7/4).
COSTLY TWEETS: ESPN's Ric Bucher Friday on Twitter reported a Twitter ban for NBA coaches and GMs. Bucher: "NBA GMs/coaches can still follow their players on Twitter during lockout. But a mention or re-tweet? $1 million fine + maybe loss of picks." MEDIA BISTRO's Lauren Dugan reported GMs are "not allowed to send direct messages to players, which would also land them" a $1M fine. As a result, "don't expect any juicy gossip to be divulged on Twitter." Dugan: "I doubt any of the coaches would be willing to risk $1 million for just one tweet" (MEDIABISTRO.com, 7/1).
WHAT'S THE BUZZ? The WALL STREET JOURNAL scoured 79,000 online posts Thursday and Friday for the "buzz about the NBA lockout." The research found that 38% of the posts expressed "disappointment/anger," 33% were "jokes," 15% were "anti-players" and 14% were "anti-owners" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/2).
