NBA Can't Afford the NFL's Labor Mistakes

By - Brian Harrington

As we all know, the NFL is currently in a lockdown over trying to get a new collective bargaining agreement signed. What a lot of people don't know is, the NBA is well on it's way to the exact same dilemma. But unlike the fan favorite, powerful media juggernaut the NFL is, the NBA can ill afford to take that step.

Photo by: NBA Images

The NBA has just started to slightly recover from years of low ratings, subpar talent and the Detroit-Indiana brawl. It just doesn't have the appeal and fan following the NFL does.

The NFL could not play the first half of the season and people would still pack into the stadiums the very week they resumed playing like nothing ever happened. I don't think the NBA would be so lucky. They already seem to be doing everything they can now just to get people in the door.

Sadly, the days of Michael's Bulls, Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics are a distant memory. The likes of which will probably never be duplicated. That was the NBA's prime.

For a prime example of where this league is now, one only had to watch the Mavericks-Lakers series. Los Angeles showed without the shadow of a doubt, that they laid down for Dallas. Their absolute classless showing in Game 4 proved that Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom are nothing but a couple of sore losing thugs.

The NFL is the national pastime now. Baseball lost that title with the way overblown "PED" saga and the strike back in the mid-90's. The NBA could never grasp it after all the greats walked away. The National Football League is the only one of the group that can take a hit like a lockout and come out on the other side smelling like roses. It's basically gotten too big to stop.

David Stern better be taking notes on this whole NFL lockout deal, or the NBA is in trouble.