Is the NBA in trouble?
 

I was just watching PTI, and they mentioned that a basketball team from Greece may be targeting LeBron James when his contract is up. Another thing they mentioned is that these leagues have no salary caps, so folks can go overseas and make considerably more cash and the competition is still pretty solid in many of these leagues. Josh Childress already left for the same team that is rumored to be interested.

I could see the NBA losing a lot of their talent to overseas clubs.

What do you guys think?

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

money isn't there. some low level foreign players can make more at home than here, but that's because they'd be league minimum deals as NBA players.

also, you have the tax issues and the problem with whether or not you'll get paid (which is a real issue in some foreign leagues), plus, lebron's marketing value would go to sh*t overnight back in the US, and i doubt greece can match his endorsement money...

i mean, when jordan left his endorsements paid him a lot more than the NBA did.


so, in short, nothing to worry about.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

The money isn't there? You mean like the Billionaire brothers that own the team in question? Maybe in some places there will be money issues, but there are respectable teams in Europe with far more money than many American owners.

Josh Childress was a rising star in this league, just stuck on a very bad Atlanta team.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

Childress is average at best. and that guy is spot on. the overall money just isn't there. and what if your team just doesn't want to pay you? then what?

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

There's a contract there. It's just like other sports that people go overseas to play. There are legal systems, and contracts are typically pretty bulletproof. Maybe nothing will happen, but I could definitely see it being a slow process bringing talent out. As we've seen, Europe has certainly caught up in talent with the US.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

It shouldn't be dismissed so lightly. Granted, you probably shouldn't take the comments of the likes of Wade, Kobe, and LeBron taking big money in Europe to seriously. And I don't think it's a threat per se to the NBA but it could have serious implications if the trend continues. First of all, the influx of talented Europeans to the NBA will dwindle as more and more top European players decide that the money is better in the Euroleague, and the level of competition is just as strong. Plus they'll get a chance, most probably, to show off more of their skills in Europe. Those "second-tier, glue" guys that are often thrown a mid-level exception and overlooked in the NBA (by management and fans) will be more inclined to take more the money and more playing time in Euroleague. And finally, the bigger impact may be on the NCAA if top high school players decide to go play in Europe for a year or two and get paid until they are eligible for the NBA, instead of toiling in college. (I think they'd be in for a rude awakening in Europe though).

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[URL="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3520860"]Lebron would consider playing overseas[/URL]

For $50 mil a year, but he'd still think about it.

To think that losing players to Europe means nothing is downright foolish.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

how is a euroleague team going to re-coup 50$mill a year + the money to buy a good team to put around him + profit?

i just don't see it making sense financially, unless the rest of the league chipped in to bring in a guy to beat them multiple times a year (since it'd help the league as a whole).

i mean, we did this to soccer in the 1970s (cosmos) and look how that turned out. big contracts to a loss leader team and rampant over expansion killed it pretty quick.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=That Guy;462230]how is a euroleague team going to re-coup 50$mill a year + the money to buy a good team to put around him + profit?

i just don't see it making sense financially, unless the rest of the league chipped in to bring in a guy to beat them multiple times a year (since it'd help the league as a whole).

i mean, we did this to soccer in the 1970s (cosmos) and look how that turned out. big contracts to a loss leader team and rampant over expansion killed it pretty quick.[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokratis_Kokkalis"]When you're this guy[/URL] He's the multibillionaire owner of Olympiakos. If you don't think he could afford it, you're out of your mind. Also, he'd be paying Euros, I doubt Lebron thinks he'll get 50,000,000 Euros.

He also owns the most popular football club in Greece, merchandising and ticket sales from combined soccer and basketball would easily make up for whatever he decided to play Lebron. I'd be interested to see how much revenue a guy like Lebron generates in a year, I don't think it would be that much of a loss.

Basically, it's up to how much the guy would like to spend, if he's got the stomach to put up $50 mil, I say, good for him. Besides, Lebron will have Chills over there to keep him company and show him where to eat/live!

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

Until Greece becomes more popular (or equally popular) in the US than the NBA, I don't see this becoming a problem.
We, as americans, don't really care about overseas sports...maybe that would change if marquee players go over there, but considering Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and we don't follow Manchester United for instance, I am not too concerned about it.
We have had several MLB players that went to Japan to play, and no one cared. Granted none of them were massive names, but we americans are wrapped up in our american leagues. We didn't even care about the CFL when big named players went there and they are right next door.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

The one thing to remember is that these billionaires aren't just relying on the team to remake monies. They pump personal fortunes into these teams. $50 million a year isn't too far fetched. Whomever signs LeBron (if it happens of course) will have no trouble recouping part or all of the money they give him in a contract.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=BDBohnzie;462233]The one thing to remember is that these billionaires aren't just relying on the team to remake monies. They pump personal fortunes into these teams. $50 million a year isn't too far fetched. Whomever signs LeBron (if it happens of course) will have no trouble recouping part or all of the money they give him in a contract.[/QUOTE]

What we are failing to take into account is that LeBron wants to be the best...if he's over there, he won't be in the picture.
As that guy pointed out, Jordan made over 100 million a year, and his salary was something like 20 mil, meaning his endorsements is where the money was. I'd have to say that James is making far more than 50mil right now, so to lose those endorsements is not something he'd be interested in.
Besides, it doesn't appear big names will go, they are big names because of where they play. America is the place to be. Someone like Childress isn't talented enough to have serious endorsements, so he'll take the short term money. For him it was a good decision. The middle of the road guys would benefit from the move...the good players likely would not.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=BDBohnzie;462233]The one thing to remember is that these billionaires aren't just relying on the team to remake monies. They pump personal fortunes into these teams. $50 million a year isn't too far fetched. Whomever signs LeBron (if it happens of course) will have no trouble recouping part or all of the money they give him in a contract.[/QUOTE]

Exactly! Even if Olympiakos runs at a loss, he owns one of the largest IT firms in the world. He could stand to lose the money on Lebron just to have him over there.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=jsarno;462240]What we are failing to take into account is that LeBron wants to be the best...if he's over there, he won't be in the picture.
As that guy pointed out, Jordan made over 100 million a year, and his salary was something like 20 mil, meaning his endorsements is where the money was. I'd have to say that James is making far more than 50mil right now, so to lose those endorsements is not something he'd be interested in.
Besides, it doesn't appear big names will go, they are big names because of where they play. America is the place to be. Someone like Childress isn't talented enough to have serious endorsements, so he'll take the short term money. For him it was a good decision. The middle of the road guys would benefit from the move...the good players likely would not.[/QUOTE]

Is there some sort of rule that says he can't earn endorsement money while playing overseas?

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=SmootSmack;462246]Is there some sort of rule that says he can't earn endorsement money while playing overseas?[/QUOTE]

Not at all, but do you think his american sponsors would still pay him the money if he was no longer in america?
I could be wrong, but I think they would drop him like Vick and Kobe got dropped after their "altercations". I feel his market value would drop considerably.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

jsarno -- those American sponsors are typically global sponsors. Plus, even if he loses American sponsors he'll gain European ones.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=jsarno;462240]What we are failing to take into account is that LeBron wants to be the best...if he's over there, he won't be in the picture.
As that guy pointed out, Jordan made over 100 million a year, and his salary was something like 20 mil, meaning his endorsements is where the money was. I'd have to say that James is making far more than 50mil right now, so to lose those endorsements is not something he'd be interested in.
Besides, it doesn't appear big names will go, they are big names because of where they play. America is the place to be. Someone like Childress isn't talented enough to have serious endorsements, so he'll take the short term money. For him it was a good decision. The middle of the road guys would benefit from the move...the good players likely would not.[/QUOTE]

The article says that Lebron would play over there for 1 year or so in order to build some more name recognition and his brand. Lebron is a smart businessman, that's why he's not saying what he said he was going to now that he's in China. Lebron does what's best for him as a business man. He understands that alienating people doesn't sell Sneakers (he wouldn't sell em to me anyway, his shoes are beat) and it doesn't make you money.

Lebron has stated that his goal is to be a "billionaire," he would get tons of endorsement deals in Europe and Nike isn't stupid enough to drop him. Therefore, playing in Greece could only hurt his game, if anything, but definitely not his wallet.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

I mearly point at David Beckham and give you a prime example of what LeBron can be on the International scene. Tiger Woods is another name well-renown Internationally. He's currently in Gillette ads with Thierry Henry and Roger Federer. The other 2 guys you may not know well, but they are extremely popular elsewhere and here. Endorsements come from all walks, including multi-national conglomerates...

There would be tremendous endorsement monies thrown at LeBron going overseas, and might be worth more than he's making now. Plus, don't think for a second brands like Nike, Gatorade and Coca-Cola are just going to drop him because he plays ball in Greece. LeBron may lose Akron TireWorld as an endorsement, but it'll be easily replaced by Athens TireWorld.

Plus, for a name like LeBron to go overseas to play, you know damn well The Ocho will start showing Euroleague highlights. Just because it hasn't happened, don't discount it.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

Good points by BD, JD, and Daseal.

Oh...and we're already all over Euroleague, both internationally and via broadband

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[QUOTE=jdlea;462252]The article says that Lebron would play over there for 1 year or so in order to build some more name recognition and his brand. Lebron is a smart businessman, that's why he's not saying what he said he was going to now that he's in China. Lebron does what's best for him as a business man. He understands that alienating people doesn't sell Sneakers (he wouldn't sell em to me anyway, his shoes are beat) and it doesn't make you money.

Lebron has stated that his goal is to be a "billionaire," he would get tons of endorsement deals in Europe and Nike isn't stupid enough to drop him. Therefore, playing in Greece could only hurt his game, if anything, but definitely not his wallet.[/QUOTE]

Very good points.
Time will tell I guess. No one has done this to this point, so we are in uncharted waters at this point. If they can make it extremely lucrative for him, maybe he will go...who knows.

Regardless, don't see it hurting the NBA unless it is a mass defection of top tier players.

Do you guys think he will be just as big, or bigger over there than here?

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[quote=jdlea;462231][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokratis_Kokkalis"]When you're this guy[/URL] He's the multibillionaire owner of Olympiakos. If you don't think he could afford it, you're out of your mind. Also, he'd be paying Euros, I doubt Lebron thinks he'll get 50,000,000 Euros.

He also owns the most popular football club in Greece, merchandising and ticket sales from combined soccer and basketball would easily make up for whatever he decided to play Lebron. I'd be interested to see how much revenue a guy like Lebron generates in a year, I don't think it would be that much of a loss.

Basically, it's up to how much the guy would like to spend, if he's got the stomach to put up $50 mil, I say, good for him. Besides, Lebron will have Chills over there to keep him company and show him where to eat/live![/quote]

way to reply to something my post never said. show me where i said he couldn't afford it...

i said that i don't see how the team would be profitable with 50mill lebron and millions for a decent cast to put around him. and again, yeah he can afford it, but guess what? comos man, that guy lost millions on the team, and once amiga sales dived, the entire league was destroyed.

i mean, soccer used to sell out giants stadium in the 70s... when's the last time that happened on a regular basis?

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=That Guy;462381]way to reply to something my post never said. show me where i said he couldn't afford it...

i said that i don't see how the team would be profitable with 50mill lebron and millions for a decent cast to put around him. and again, yeah he can afford it, but guess what? comos man, that guy lost millions on the team, and once amiga sales dived, the entire league was destroyed.

i mean, soccer used to sell out giants stadium in the 70s... when's the last time that happened on a regular basis?[/QUOTE]

You keep comparing soccer in America in the 70's to basketball in Greece in 2009. I don't see the point of this, you're comparing apples and oranges. There are a lot more revenue streams in the world now. It's a much smaller place. The guy is an IT mogul, I'm pretty sure that in addition to his increased ticket sales and tv deals, he could also sell a subscription service so that Americans could watch Lebron online and other things like that.

Getting Lebron James would open a million possibilities for them. Also, this team made the playoffs just last year and they added Josh Childress. I assume they'll still be profitable this season, therefore, all they have to do is make up for the $50 mil they'd be paying Lebron and they'd still have a competitive, profitable team.

In addition to that, a large portion of David Beckham's reported contract is paid in advertisement money. Why not do the same for Lebron James?

Finally, I believe that Lebron would generate more that $50 million of income if he went to play in Greece. His jerseys would still sell over here and I'm sure jersey sales over there would sky rocket. This, to me, doesn't seem like there's anyway it could fail for the owner of Olympiacos.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

I can imagine a bunch of Americans getting the LeBron Olympiakos jersey just because it's different. Their merch sales would go through the roof.

As far as the Cosmos and the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League]NASL[/url], they sold out Giants Stadium once, and while drew a good number of fans, having the best player in the world helped with that. There is no danger of the Euroleague shutting its doors because they are throwing money at high priced Americans.

As far as the original question, I don't see the NBA falling that far off. Guys like LeBron will look for the quick payoff, but will eventually make their way back to the NBA.

Re: Is the NBA in trouble?
 

[QUOTE=BDBohnzie;462425][B]I can imagine a bunch of Americans getting the LeBron Olympiakos jersey just because it's different. Their merch sales would go through the roof.[/B]

As far as the Cosmos and the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League]NASL[/url], they sold out Giants Stadium once, and while drew a good number of fans, having the best player in the world helped with that. There is no danger of the Euroleague shutting its doors because they are throwing money at high priced Americans.

As far as the original question, I don't see the NBA falling that far off. Guys like LeBron will look for the quick payoff, but will eventually make their way back to the NBA.[/QUOTE]

I guarantee I would get one. I've already thought about that.