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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Silver Says NBA Considering Starting Season Earlier During State-Of-League Presser

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver during Saturday's State of the League address said that the league "would consider starting the season a couple of weeks earlier in October to spread the 82 regular season games over a longer time period," according to Andrew Both of REUTERS. Silver said one of the things the league is "hoping to address for next season is to come close as we can to eliminating the four games in five nights." He added that the league "would 'take a fresh look' at tweaking the draft lottery." Silver: "I don't think the system is as broken as some may suggest but it's going to require a tweak" (REUTERS, 2/14). In Houston, Jonathan Feigen noted Silver "sounded more confident than ever about his oft-cited goal to cut down on back-to-backs and virtually eliminate stretches of teams’ schedules with four games in five nights." He "was less optimistic about changes in the draft lottery, playoff bracket or planned increase of the salary cap that he hoped to phase in but had been rejected by the players’ association on Friday." Silver "sounded as if he has made progress on the schedule changes, with TNT and ESPN/ABC open to allowing more games on their exclusive Thursday and Sunday afternoon windows to open more days for games" (CHRON.com, 2/14). The AP's Brian Mahoney noted Silver "is determined to make a schedule that keeps NBA players fresher." Change "could come as early as next season" (AP, 2/15).

ISSUES BUBBLING UNDER THE SURFACE: ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst noted Silver "used his annual All-Star address to lay out a series of peacetime tweaks he's hoping to make over the next year." In the big picture, the league and the players "are spending their time these days haggling over the coming increase in television money and how they will manage a tripling of that revenue starting" in '16. With that "complex fight over money slowly waging," there has been "little talk of any issues that would have a direct impact on the game" (ESPN.com, 2/14). Silver said that he "wanted the focus of his second year to be on basketball." In N.Y., Benjamin Hoffman noted many of Silver’s remarks "were more of a promise of action than a declaration of anything immediate" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/15). The AP's Mahoney noted as Silver begins his second year in charge, he said that his priority "is improving the game, whereas much of his early successes were on off-the-court areas." But business "couldn't completely be ignored" (AP, 2/15).

SMOOTHING THINGS OVER
: In DC, Michael Lee noted the new $24B broadcasting rights contract is "set to kick in after next season," and to avoid seeing a "dramatic jump in team payrolls in 2016, Silver has proposed gradually 'smoothing' the salary cap to help with the adjustment." NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts on Friday stated that she "is against accepting a deal in which her players don’t get all of the money that they’ve earned." When told of her resistance, Silver that said he "planned to have more discussions with the union." Silver "discussed a myriad of topics in a 35-minute news conference, from the next collective bargaining agreement to the age minimum and conference imbalance, though few could immediately be addressed before the start of next season" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/15). In Boston, Gary Washburn reports Roberts on Friday "quickly rejected" the notion of smoothing over the salary cap to "create an artificial salary cap for a negotiated period of time to gradually increase salaries." She said, "There is a concern about any proposal that results in limiting the players’ ability to realize as much income as they can. The proposal that the league submitted would artificially deflate the salary cap and therefore player salaries would not increase as high they would otherwise" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/16).

CALM BEFORE THE STORM? 
CBSSPORTS.com's Ken Berger wrote Silver's league "is geographically imbalanced and could soon be competitively imbalanced again if he doesn't take firm action." Yet on the issues of East-West imbalance and the "massive spike in TV money threatening to favor big markets in two years, Silver came up short Saturday night in his second All-Star address." Silver, who "was long on scholarly explanations, but short on strategy," was "full of diplomacy, at a time when his vision of parity regardless of market size could be in jeopardy." For the "first time in memory, NBA players may have their commissioner backpedaling." The $24B in TV and digital rights "could tear down all the progress made under Silver's leadership to level the NBA's competitive playing field." (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/14). Still, NBA.com's Steve Aschburner noted Silver this weekend "talked about basketball" as opposed topics like discipline, gambling and drug policy. He "used the opportunity of labor peace ... to laud the events of All-Star Weekend and talk about the game and matters that directly affect the playing of it" (NBA.com, 2/15).

EAST COAST/WEST COAST BATTLE: Silver previously has talked about looking into altering the current playoff set-up so the best 16 teams qualify regardless of conference. He said on Saturday, "As you might imagine, there are certain Eastern Conference owners who like the status quo, and certain Western Conference owners who are saying change is due.” But in Boston, Adam Himmelsbach noted players at the All-Star Game "had mixed opinions about a potential change" to the postseason system. Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard said, "It’s kind of unfair to some of the teams in the West who have really good records and won’t make the playoffs, but that’s just the way it is. I’m not a fan of changing it from what it’s been.” Clippers G J.J. Redick: "You run into more travel issues. What happens if Boston is the No. 8 seed in the East and the Clippers are the No. 1 seed in the West and have the best overall record? Are you going to have those teams flying back and forth? That’s tough. I think the way it’s set up now is fine" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/15). In L.A., Mike Bresnahan noted one potential problem with a restructuring of the playoffs "would be the travel," plus "there would be resistance" from Eastern Conference owners (L.A. TIMES, 2/15). 

CONTRAST IN STYLE: In Boston, Steve Bulpett wrote NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at his Super Bowl presser was "a man under siege." Instead of dodging crises, Silver "was bathing in the success of his first year on the job and feeling the love." Bulpett wrote Goodell "was taking fire in his meeting with the media, while Silver "was on fire in his." The contrast "couldn’t have been more stark" (BOSTON HERALD, 2/15).

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