We’re all used to Elisabeth Hasselbeck tackling political issues on the popular talk show “The View,” and we’ve seen her many a time get heated during discussions on hot topics. But this week we got a glimpse of the “sporty chick” side of Elisabeth Hasselbeck and co-host Sherri Shepherd.
Sherri and Elisabeth came out on Monday wearing Oklahoma City NBA jerseys – a statement to NBA owners and players that it’s time for the lockout to end. These girls want the players and owners to get things figured out so we can have a NBA season!
And taking the protest a step further, they’ve introduced a segment on the show called “Bad Basketball” – Sherri and Elisabeth are going to make viewers watch them play basketball on the show every day until the lockout is resolved.
With all this media attention, many of you may be a few steps behind, wondering this lockout thing is all about? We heard a lot about a similar NFL situation over the summer, and now here we go again with the NBA. Basically basketball season was scheduled to start at the end of October, but due to major controversies within the NBA, there might not even be a season this year!
Here’s a basic overview of the situation. Hopefully it will help you understand the lockout, as well as why you’re going to be seeing a lot more of Elisabeth and Sherri playing basketball – although I really hope they don’t keep wearing the jerseys. (I love to check out their outfits every day!)
What’s A Lockout?
In every sport, it’s the same thing: Players form a union to protect their rights, and then must come to an agreement with the team owners (who are their employers) over things like salaries, and revenue division through a process called collective bargaining. If they cannot agree, then the season may go under lockout. This is different from the normal employees going on strike that we are all used to hearing, because the owners actually “lock out” the players – they cannot access NBA team facilities, trainers or staffs.
More Money, More Problems
It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the NBA, the NFL, the NHL or the MLB – the number one reason that professional athletes and team owners fight is over money. Now you might ask, “how can these players complain about their salaries when they’re making so much money?” It’s a fair question but you can also argue both sides. If you think the players are making a lot of money, you cannot even imagine how much the owners are making.
Also, just like in any big-name chain of stores (for example, let’s use Target), you’re always going to have more money coming from the Target store in a big, bustling suburb than in a small or out of the way location. But in order for a small town to afford to have a Target in their area, the money that the bigger Target makes needs to be shared with all the other stores. This makes the entire chain successful, and it’s also known as profit sharing.
Sports leagues use this same principle. There are top market cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Miami where the teams bring in millions of dollars for each game. However, lower market teams (in cities like Oklahoma) don’t make as much money and in order to keep up with the expense of having the team – the costs of lighting the stadiums and arenas alone is insane -they need to be helped by the larger market teams.
It might seem like this would be a disagreement between owners, not between owners and players. But the way the league profits are split is a concern for both sides. Players say that the revenue should be split down the middle, while owners argue that the demands of sharing and stabilizing all the teams in the leagues takes more than half the profits.
So Will There Be A Season?
Well, the NFL reached an agreement and we ended up having a football season, so let’s hope the NBA can figure it out too! Just like fighting couples often go to marriage counseling, the NBA is now using a man named George Cohen to help end this 100 day and counting lockout before any more games are cancelled. (Just in case you hadn’t heard, the first two weeks of the regular season have already been cancelled.)
While there are some real issues at stake for the people within the organization, if you’re a sports fan like me you just want it to end and get to the games already.Until then, I guess we’re stuck watching Elisabeth and Sherri play basketball!
Beth Pocalyko is the co-founder of Girls Gone Football, a place where girls can come and play fantasy sports together, learn about sports and read about celebrity gossip in sports. You can follow her on Twitter at BethQueenie
