Preserve your product, small-market owners. You are not the product. If fans turn against the players, they turn against the sport (once again: if you’re an NBA fan, you know this). Shoot, MLB fans know it too: MLB owners - NFL owners too, to an extent - were just smart enough to frame their grievances in a manner that didn’t hurt the game. They blamed large-market owners…which isn’t much better, but is much more palatable…because it doesn’t hurt the product.
Shoot, an argument could be made that it helps. Fans rally around their teams as the David vs. Goliath narrative takes over. Everyone gets involved and picks up their slingshots. Easy stories to write, interesting plotlines to develop…win-win.
If small-market owners would just put a little bit of money into their teams instead of crying “woe is me” and trying to pocket it all (looking squarely in the direction of the Marlins), sports would be so much better. They could increase parity even further, which benefits all in a “prodigal son” kind of way. The NFL already knows this. MLB practices this much better than people realize. The NBA has a unique problem that was discussed above. Their set of circumstances pretty much disable the idea of NFL or MLB-type solutions. Even in Sternville, though; small-market owners can try to compete. You only need 2-3 great players to win in basketball anyway, and everyone can’t play in the six big cities outlined earlier. If math serves me correctly, two of the NBA’s top 20 players would have to be outside those markets. It can’t be that impossible for some smart group to put, say, 4-5 of the top 100 on the same team and fill the rest of the roster out with guys who are just below that level. Keep them together and let them grow for a while, let them win as a team.
Wait, there’s some place where they do that…oh yeah, college basketball. How many times have we seen senior-laden teams from small conferences upend bigger schools in the tournament? Where else? If the 49ers win, the NFC will have sent 11 different teams in the last 11 years to the Super Bowl. Another example? Well…the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies have combined for five World Series titles since 2000 (that’s a lot for three teams, but still below what many would guess). Name the other seven. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
What’s the point of all that? It’s to note that anyone can win…if they try. Trying is obviously not a sufficient condition, but it is necessary. That’s why teams like the Diamondbacks win and teams like the Marlins don’t (and before you throw the fact that the Marlins have two world titles out there, please remember they bought the first one and sold everything but the grass on the field after both of them). Large-market teams try to win and fail all the time too. The Cubs, Dodgers, Jets, Cowboys, Knicks, and post-Jordan Bulls all serve as examples. You don’t see them asking for their money back. Small market owners need to realize that the world owes them nothing and that they should try to make something of their teams. They should stop trying to be the death of sports (through lockouts and all) when the people they’re supposed to be serving are the very ones who bring the life to sports. If they try, there’s a pretty decent chance that we all can win.
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