For the four major American sports leagues, 2011 was an extremely important year. This was true for both the NFL and the NBA. Lu Ke unfortunately missed out, while Curry became a part of it.
In the United States, the NFL is the undisputed top dog, and the other three leagues almost follow its lead. Therefore, any small disturbance in the NFL will inevitably affect the interests of the other three leagues. This year was no exception. On March 11, the NFL officially announced a lockout, entering a stalemate in salary negotiations. The lockout of America's number one interest group triggered a tsunami-like chain reaction.
The root of the NFL lockout can be traced back to three years ago, on August 20, 2008, when Gene Upshaw passed away. For NFL players, they not only lost a former top left tackle, a two-time Super Bowl winner, and a Raiders legend, but more importantly, they lost an excellent leader. After becoming the NFL Players Association president in 1983, Upshaw dedicated his life to fighting for more benefits for the players.
Although he made mistakes in his two negotiations with the teams in 1987 and 1993, which caused the Players Association to lose many rights and opportunities and be passive everywhere, Upshaw became a crucial figure in the league after learning from his mistakes.
In 25 years, he helped hundreds of retired players get pensions. He changed many rules in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, forcing team owners to give back more money to the players from their revenue each season. There's no doubt that in the history of the NFL, his great achievements are top-notch. Moreover, in his negotiations with the teams and the league, he was always tough yet wise, always fighting for more rights for the players.
Just a few days after Upshaw's death, the owners of the 32 NFL teams voted to not set a salary cap for the 2010 season according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement at the time. This so-called "sacrifice" in exchange for the Collective Bargaining Agreement to expire early after the 2011 season. In other words, the teams and players had to sign a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. For the team owners, Upshaw's death meant that the Players Association would be in a state of disarray, and a chaotic association would not be able to withstand the owners' power. This would allow the owners to have the absolute upper hand in the negotiations for the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Everyone was eager to re-divide the pie.
In just two years, the newly appointed chairman, DeMaurice Smith, tried his best to mediate, but his ability was no match for Upshaw's powerful influence. He was never able to quickly make the transition and negotiate with the team owners. In early 2011, after the Super Bowl ended in February, the owners' plan was steadily implemented.
Just like all lockouts, both sides went through a long but similar process: negotiation, rejection, changing the bottom line, negotiation again, still rejection, and then the owners announced the closure, notifying all players: "The league is in a lockout. Players have no games to play, no money to earn, and during this time, you'd better not find a side job. If you get injured, your current contract will be voided after the lockout ends." In the end, both sides broke up and reached a stalemate.
On March 11, the negotiations broke down again, and the NFL officially entered a lockout. In fact, in the history of American professional sports, there have been countless lockouts, and one rule has never changed: the owners always have the upper hand. Because at the end of the day, after a lockout, those billionaire owners have enough patience to wait. Their biggest expense—player salaries—can be temporarily suspended due to the lockout, and other costs are just a drop in the bucket for them.
But it was different for the players. Their salaries were their only income, and their endorsement money also got bogged down with the game's stalemate. After the lockout was extended, they would not be able to hold on. After all, the number of superstars at the top of the pyramid was still a minority in the league.
But the 2011 NFL lockout was an exception. This time, the players had the upper hand. In the end, after only 132 days, the lockout ended before the new season even started. It didn't even affect the preseason at all. It was completely calm because all the players were united and challenged the team owners.
After the Players Association's negotiations ended, the NFL players withdrew the Players Association's license. This meant that they didn't have to solve the problem through the association. Instead, they could file a lawsuit with the local court to use the power of the law to push the stalled negotiations. More importantly, the players knew that the NFL was currently the most profitable sports league in the world. Although they didn't know how rich the owners' so-called "earning a lot of money every day" was, they were sure that the owners wouldn't just sit by and watch all their profits go down the drain.
Originally, the players were at a disadvantage, but this time, they took a strong stance during the lockout. First, they were not greedy and only fought for what they deserved, which won them sympathy from the public. Second, the owners' actions in the past two years of negotiations had been labeled as "stingy" and "under-the-table deals," which provided more material for the media.
So, when the Minnesota District Court forced the NFL to restart negotiations after a series of hearings, the players had already won. In the past, players could only speak when the owners nodded. But now, they had won the possibility of an equal dialogue. In the end, both sides reached a win-win situation and signed a ten-year contract.
According to the new agreement, the team owners would get 52% of the annual revenue, while the players would get 48%. In the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, the owners' share was only 47%, which was the main reason why the owners were so angry. The increase in the percentage of revenue was undoubtedly the point that the owners were most satisfied with. In this regard, the owners won the negotiation, and Upshaw's death still had a huge impact.
But the players also got what they wanted. The teams had to increase the salary cap to a new limit of $120 million. At the same time, they also had to take out $20 million as player benefits. The increase in the salary cap meant that most players' salaries would not be cut, and they would get more guaranteed contracts. This was the most direct and urgent need for the players.
So, when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Players Association Chairman DeMaurice Smith jointly announced, "Football is back!" it was a victory for both the teams and the players.
So, who lost? The rookies.
Both the teams and the players won their respective interests. The wool must be cut from the sheep's back, and this group of lambs to be slaughtered were the rookies. In this negotiation, the interests of the rookies were completely sold out. This was also a concession made by the players to the powerful team owners.
According to the new agreement, the amount of a rookie's first contract could only be half of the previous contract. Last year's number one pick, Sam Bradford, easily got a six-year, $78 million rookie contract, including $50 million in guaranteed money. This year's number one pick, Cam Newton, only got a four-year, $22 million contract, and the difference was obvious. In addition, the reduction in the amount of the rookie contracts also affected the agents' income. According to the new agreement, the agents' commission for rookies was reduced from the original 3% to 2%.
The ones who are sacrificed are always the ones who have no say. However, the good thing was that as long as the rookies performed well, their income would double after their rookie contracts were over. On the whole, the team owners earned more, but the increase in the salary cap also gave the players more room for salary. It was indeed a win-win for both sides.
The NFL lockout officially ended in early July, and it barely had any impact on this year's season, except for the cancellation of the annual Hall of Fame Game. In other words, as an undrafted rookie who had just joined the league, the lockout ended before Lu Ke could find a team that would accept him. So, Lu Ke was not involved in it at all.
But it was different for Curry. After witnessing the success of the NFL lockout, the NBA, which also had its Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring this year, followed suit. On May 27, 2011, the NBA Players Association officially filed a lawsuit with the US Department of Labor, accusing the NBA of using intimidation and threats in the new labor negotiations to force the Players Association to sign a new labor agreement that was unfavorable to the players. After several negotiations, they were still unable to reach a consensus, and the lockout officially began on July 1.
Interestingly, the NBA followed closely in the NFL's footsteps, and the strategies they adopted during the lockout were also largely the same. Seeing the NFL's encouraging results, the NBA also got a boost of confidence, hoping to fight for more player benefits. However, when the NFL lockout ended, ESPN's sports experts pointed out that the NFL's case was not applicable to the NBA. Fans should not think that the NBA would use the NFL's model to have a Hollywood-style fairy tale ending. This was because during the entire NFL lockout, the players always had the upper hand, but in the NBA's battle, the owners were hardliners who refused to make any compromises.
The facts also proved that this view was correct. The NBA owners consistently refused to compromise. The negotiations dragged on with no signs of progress. As a result, they missed the start of the season and the negotiations didn't end until late November. On December 9, the free agency and training camp officially began. On December 25, the first game of the season officially kicked off.
For the young Curry, who couldn't help with the negotiations and was also plagued by his own injuries, his mood was inevitably up and down after experiencing the turmoil of the entire league. It was only now that Curry was finally preparing for the season opener, which was why Lu Ke had asked that question just now.
"I'm not as excited as I thought I would be, but... I'm starting to get excited," Curry said.
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