经济学人129:罢工中的篮球运动

　　Basketball on strike

　　罢工中的篮球运动

　　Second down

　　二次谈判

　　NBA players join their NFL counterparts on the sidelines

　　NBA球员加入到了NFL球员罢工的行列中

　　Jul 7th 2011 | WASHINGTON, DC | from the print edition

　　WHEN the clock struck midnight on June 30th the number of jobless men in America increased by 450. Few, though, will pity these idle labourers. The average among them earned around $5m last year.

　　当6月30日晚午夜钟声响起的一刻，美国失业男人的人数增加了450人。然而，几乎没有人为这些无所事事的体力劳动者惋惜。去年，他们的年平均收入在500万美元左右。

　　Their employers had long thought that too much. So the owners of the National Basketball Association (NBA) locked out their players after the two sides failed to reach a new collective-bargaining agreement. With the National Football League (NFL) in a similar state of abeyance 1, sports fans are becoming well-versed in American labour law.

　　老板们已经就球员们的高工资想了很多。因此，当劳资双方未达成一个新的共同商讨的协议时，美国篮球职业联赛（NBA）的所有者们将球员赶出了联盟。同时，美国美式橄榄球大联盟（NFL）也处于相似的停摆状态中，这种状况使得球迷们对美国劳动法变得无比熟悉。

　　As with the NFL, the NBA lockout comes at an inopportune time. The decision was taken just 18 days after an exciting championship that saw the league’s most captivating (and skilled) villain 2, LeBron James of the Miami Heat, outplayed by a likeable legend, Dirk Nowitzki of the victorious 3 Dallas Mavericks 4. That capped a season in which sales of tickets and merchandise, as well as TV ratings, were up.

　　与NFL相似，NBA停摆显得那么不适时宜。18天前，一代传奇德克?诺维斯基领衔的达拉斯小牛击败联盟最受瞩目（同时也是技术最佳）的怪兽勒布朗?詹姆士率领的迈阿密热火，夺取了总冠军。18天后，联盟停摆。本赛季的门票和商品收入，以及收视率都增长，但是这些全被联盟停摆的阴影所覆盖。

　　“We had a great year in terms of the appreciation 5 of our fans for our game. It just wasn’t a profitable one for the owners,” says David Stern, the league’s longtime commissioner 6. He claims that 22 of the NBA’s 30 teams are losing money.

　　“从球迷的欣赏度来讲，我们度过了成功的一年。但对球队老板们来说，这一年没有盈利，”已担任联盟主席很长时间的大卫?斯特恩说道。他称，在联盟30支球队中，22支正在面临亏损。

　　As a result, team owners want fundamental changes to the economic structure of the league. For starters, that means replacing the current soft cap on players’ salaries with a hard one that will do more to limit the contracts doled 7 out by the wealthier clubs. They also want to see the league’s revenues, which amounted to $3.8 billion last season according to Forbes, split up in a way that is much more favourable 8 to them and less favourable to the players.

　　因此，球队老板们希望对联盟的经济结构做出基础性的改变。首先，这就意味着用硬工资帽来代替软工资帽，从而对更加富有的球队所提供的合同做出更多的限制。他们也希望联盟收入以一种对球队更加有利，而不是对球员更加有利的方式来分配。据福布斯披露，过去的一个赛季联盟总收入达到38亿美元。

　　The players, in turn, accuse the owners of poor teamwork. They say that more revenue-sharing between the league’s haves and have-nots could resolve the teams’ exaggerated financial troubles. Much depends on whose numbers you believe.

　　相应地，球员们指责老板们低劣的球队工作。他们称，在联盟的富人和穷人之间进行更多的收入分配可以解决球队言过其实的财政困难。这很大程度上取决与你相信谁的数字。

　　In the end the players will probably have to make at least modest concessions 9 on their contracts and salaries, but they have thus far rejected the owners’ demanding proposals. About the only thing the two sides currently agree on is how far apart they are, raising fears that the next season may be cancelled altogether.

　　最终，球员们可能不得不在合同和薪水方面至少做出适度的让步。但是他们已经拒绝了球队老板提出的方案。双方目前唯一达成一致的是他们的分歧是什么，这也增加了下赛季可能被整个取消的担忧。

　　The NFL, on the other hand, looks to be moving closer to a deal that would end its four-month work stoppage. But that ought not to raise the hopes of NBA fans much. No NFL team appears to be losing money and the league’s basic economic framework is not in dispute. The incentives 10 facing each sport are also quite different. With pre-season games only a month away, further squabbling could cost the NFL as much as $200m for each missed week of practice. Compare that with the NBA, where some owners may actually prefer to forgo 11 another unprofitable season if it results in a better deal.

　　另一方面，NFL看起来即将达成一个协议，从而结束长达四个月的停摆。但是这一消息并不会给NBA球迷们带来很大的希望。NFL球队中无一亏损，并且联盟的基本经济框架也不存在争议。每项运动所面临的刺激千差万别。距离季前赛只有一个月的时间了，如果继续争吵下去的话，每停摆一周将会使NFL损失2亿美元。而在NBA，如果达不成一个更好的协议的话，一些老板实际上上会选择放弃一个亏损的赛季。