Whether it was the NFL or NBA lockout, it all came down to both sides fighting for their own interests. The teams wanted to exploit more profit, and the players wanted to fight for more income. This had nothing to do with Lu Ke and Curry, but it also did. Furthermore, the contracts signed after this lockout would affect the league's salary trends for the next ten years and could even affect Lu Ke's and Curry's careers. Therefore, it was related to them in all aspects.
This brought up a very important question that everyone was curious about: Why was the income of NBA players several times that of NFL players?
For example, during the 2016 NFL offseason, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck signed a six-year, $140 million contract. It was actually the last year's salary plus a five-year, $123 million deal, which was the biggest contract in the history of the entire league. However, its momentum was easily surpassed by NBA player Mike Conley's five-year, $153 million contract. What was even sadder was that the guaranteed portion of Luck's contract was only $87 million. In comparison, Evan Fournier, who had just been re-signed by the Orlando Magic in the NBA, signed a five-year, $85 million contract with a full guarantee. In other words, the highest contract in NFL history was only a mid-level contract in the NBA. This was the same for endorsement fees, but why?
From a league revenue perspective, the NFL's revenue was almost twice that of the NBA. Its viewership, advertising sponsorship, and national popularity all completely crushed the latter. Among the four major North American sports leagues, the NFL was the top dog, while the NBA could only rank third. However, there was an unbelievable huge gap in the players' personal income.
The specific reasons are more complicated to explain.
Both the NFL and the NBA had a salary cap, and the calculation methods for their salary caps were similar. In the NFL, the football-related income was divided into different parts, and each part was multiplied by a different ratio. After adding them all up, the total was divided by 32 to get the salary cap for each team. And there was a cap set for this total, which was 47% to 48.5% of the NFL's total football business revenue. The NBA also stipulated that the salary cap was 49% to 51% of the total basketball business revenue.
Therefore, whether it was the NBA or the NFL, if a contract with a large increase was signed, the player's salary level would definitely increase significantly. The specific reasons why the average salary of a football player was far inferior to that of a basketball player could be divided into two main points:
The Hard Salary Cap
First, the number of players.
In the NFL, the number of players who counted toward the salary cap was the 51 highest-paid players, while an NBA team's roster only had a maximum of 15 people. The NFL had over 1,600 players sharing 48% of the total revenue, while the NBA only had 450 people sharing 50% of the total revenue. So, even though the NFL's total revenue was almost double the NBA's, the NFL's average salary was less than half of the NBA's.
Second, the salary cap.
The NFL used a hard salary cap. If a team's payroll went over the salary cap, it couldn't sign any players, no exceptions. To avoid being passive in trades and player contract renewals, NFL teams often compressed the total amount of the contract and the guaranteed portion of the contract, which further controlled and compressed the team's income. The NBA also had a salary cap and a luxury tax trigger point, but a team could still sign a player even if it went over the salary cap with a series of exceptions like the Bird Exception, the Mid-Level Exception, and the Bi-Annual Exception. Even if a team went over the luxury tax, it wasn't a big deal. The team only had to pay a fine and could still sign the player it wanted.
Because of this, there was a huge gap in the salaries of football and basketball players, and there were many similarities with endorsement fees. But overall, the average salary gap between the NFL and the NBA didn't widen. Instead, it continued to grow at a similar rate to the economic level, and the upward trend was quite similar.
In fact, the oppressive control brought by the hard salary cap limited the average salary level of NFL players, but in turn, it also enhanced the average competitiveness of the 32 NFL teams and thus boosted the league's influence. Because of the hard salary cap, it was almost impossible for a team to sign multiple top superstars at the same time. On top of that, football required the offense, defense, and special teams to perform well to win the game, making it even more difficult for superstars to gather in one place.
Naturally, the gap between the teams' strengths couldn't be completely pulled apart, and there were countless classic games where the weak beat the strong and the underdog won. More importantly, this also prevented a team from dominating the league and kept the competition fierce every year.
Whether it was the NBA in the United States or the five major leagues in Europe, there have been dynasties in history that dominated the leagues and swept the board, creating an era of their own that could even last for several years or longer. But this situation was hard to come by in the NFL. For one, after a team won the Super Bowl, the championship heroes and talented players would definitely become targets for other teams, and the existence of the hard salary cap also limited the possibility of the team's core lineup staying together, so the overall strength would inevitably fluctuate.
Second, other teams could quickly improve their combat effectiveness through drafts and free agency, further leveling the playing field.
Third, the playoffs were a single-elimination system, which added many uncertainties.
Therefore, the Super Bowl champion every year was full of suspense, and anything was possible, which naturally made the anticipation soar. This also explained why there had never been a team that won three consecutive championships in the history of the NFL, and there were only two teams that won three championships in four years.
To some extent, the existence of the hard salary cap increased the watchability of football games. The competitiveness between teams was closer, and the games were naturally more exciting and watchable. The suspense of winning and losing always existed, firmly attracting the fans' attention. Even if a team had a terrible season this year, it could make a comeback next year. This year's San Francisco 49ers were a typical example.
From another perspective, the NFL lockout ended smoothly because the players were united on one hand, and the players' benefits already occupied a small portion, so there was a lot of room for improvement on the other.
The NBA lockout, however, faced many difficulties. Even if they missed the new season, the teams refused to make concessions. The players' income already occupied a large portion on one hand, and the team owners' income was far less than that of the NFL owners on the other, so they were naturally more unwilling to let go. The operation of the salary cap could also be seen as one of the obvious differences between the NFL and NBA leagues.
The income gap between football players and basketball players had always been a hot topic in American sports, especially when the offseason free agency began. So, in this NFL lockout, the players were willing to give up a portion of the total revenue, but they had to raise the limit of the hard salary cap. The purpose was to truly increase the players' direct income. But there was no hard salary cap in the NBA. The players and teams were arguing over the owners' personal interests, and those old stubborns naturally refused to compromise.
For these two young people, Lu Ke and Curry, what was affected was not their present but their future. However, both of them couldn't be sure about the direction of their future careers. After all, professional athletes were full of too many variables. Curry was still plagued by injuries, and Lu Ke was only a rookie. So, this year's lockout was not an urgent concern for either of them. They had to first fight for a future, and then they could worry about the income that the "future" would bring.
"How about you? How are you doing now? I heard you guys have started training camp again?" Lu Ke was also paying attention to the NBA lockout, and he was happy for Curry when he found out that the league had finally restarted. For a player, the game and the competition were the most important things, and Lu Ke had always believed that.
"I'm not as excited as I thought I would be," Curry said, letting out a long sigh, his tone a little uncertain. "But... I'm starting to get excited. Finally, I can play this year." Curry's sigh made Lu Ke chuckle. "How about it, you won't be able to come to the opening game, will you?"
"Are you inviting me to spend Christmas with you? Does Ayesha know?" Lu Ke's response made Curry laugh cheerfully.
This year's opening game was on Christmas Day and would also be the annual "Christmas Day games." It was a given that the special situation this year would fully erupt on the day of the opening game. It was definitely the NBA's annual event. Just imagining it, you could picture the excitement.
"I've been thinking about when I'll have a chance to go to Candlestick Park to watch a game. My God, last night's game was really amazing! Watching it live is definitely different!" Even when thinking back on it now, Curry couldn't help but praise it.
Lu Ke smiled. "If I go to Oakland and don't get beaten up by Raiders fans, I'm happy to go to Oracle Arena to watch a game anytime. Did I mention this before? If I hadn't chosen football, I would have become a basketball player."
Curry rolled his eyes at Lu Ke's teasing. "Come on, the Raiders and the 49ers aren't mortal enemies, okay?" Then, he changed the subject. "I know you used to play basketball, but I didn't know you were that good. What position did you play?"
"Uh, in elementary school, there weren't any strict positions on the court. But I guess I was a guard... maybe." Lu Ke couldn't help but scratch his head. Even he wasn't sure. Then, Curry's unrestrained laughter came from the other end of the phone. Elementary school? Distant elementary school, but... could that also be considered a basketball player?
In the face of Curry's exaggerated attitude, Lu Ke said unhurriedly, "Who lost the shooting competition at the studio last time?"
The laughter came to an abrupt end.
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