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After weeks of negotiations, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Monday evening that they had reached an agreement on the start of the 2020-2021 season and also agreed to financial amendments to the current collective agreement.
On Tuesday, the NBA Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the deals proposed by the NBA and NBPA.
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What has been agreed?
A start date of December 22 has been set for the 2020-2021 regular season, and each team will play 72 games.
Earlier in negotiations, the January and February start dates were heralded as possibilities as the NBA tried to prioritize returning fans to arenas. Since night gate revenue, along with other game night related revenue, accounts for roughly 40% of NBA basketball related revenue (BIS: money shared 50/50 between owners and players), the league really does not want to start the season with empty seats.
As it became clear that the coronavirus pandemic would further delay reopening arenas to fans, the NBA needed to ensure it was maximizing other income-generating interests. Christmas Day demo games as well as other broadcast deals have become important factors in the negotiations. After all, the NBA is a business and the bottom line matters.
A 72-game regular season will see the league return to a normal schedule in fall 2021.
The 2020 Free Agency window will open on November 20, just two days after the draft, and just 10 days before training camp begins.
In addition to the schedule deals, the league set the 2020-2021 salary cap at $ 109.1 million and the tax level at $ 132.6 million, the same as last season.
Usually, when earnings fall, such as when the 2019-20 season was suspended and the bubble restarted, the salary cap for the following year would reflect that drop. But since the collective agreement was not designed for a global pandemic, the NBA and NBPA have entered into multiple negotiations in recent months to compensate for the lump sum financial impacts.
In a new attempt to spread large revenue drops, the league will hold between 10% and 20% of player salaries in receivership for the 2020-21 season and may do so for the following two seasons.
The league also announced that “team tax payments will be reduced proportionately to any decrease in the BIS.” This means that if the BIS for the 2020-21 season drops 40%, teams paying the luxury tax will see their bill reduced by 40%.
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What does this mean for Utah Jazz?
The Jazz left the NBA bubble after their loss in Game 7 to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs on September 2. start of the 2020-21 season. For comparison, the 2019 final ended 132 days before the start of the 2019-20 season.
The Miami Heat and the champion Los Angeles Lakers are the teams that will be hit hardest by the December 22 start date, which comes just 73 days after their last game in Orlando. Meanwhile, eight teams that weren’t invited to the Orlando reunion haven’t played basketball since March.
“We are delighted that the 2020-21 NBA season officially ends in December,” Utah Jazz President Jim Olson said in a statement. “The entire Jazz organization and its loyal fans have been eagerly awaiting the return of Jazz basketball to our court at Vivint Arena. … We would like to thank Commissioner Adam Silver, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association for their extraordinary efforts and shared commitment to start the season under these unusual circumstances.
When it comes to finance deals, the proportionately reduced tax costs could give new Jazz owner Ryan Smith some peace of mind in his first season at the helm. Even if the Jazz were to cross the tax threshold for the 2020-2021 season, it probably wouldn’t be by much, and with a drop in revenue expected, Smith would be able to avoid the high tax costs of luxury.
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What we still don’t know
Although the start date and length of the 2020-21 season have been announced, and league sources have said training camp is expected to start on or around December 1, we still don’t know the official dates. of training camp, what the preseason is going to look like, and the 2020-21 season schedule has yet to be released.
We also don’t know what additional changes will be made to the NBA schedule to include safety protocols and reduced travel.
“The public health and safety of our players, fans and community is of the utmost importance, and we will continue to follow the advice of the NBA and local health officials to set the appropriate standards that support return to play on safer possible, ”said Olson. .
Serial play, resembling what the MLB does during the regular season, is a storyline that has grown in popularity and popularity in negotiations, but the NBA has yet to make a final decision. There’s also talk of including a play-in tournament at the end of the season to decide who is the eighth seed in each conference for the playoffs, as the league did in the bubble. But again, no official decision has been made.
It has been reported that the league will try to have sequels in open arenas for limited capacity to fans, but with an increase in the virus these ideas could be put on hold and vary wildly based on local guidelines in each market.
Looking ahead to the end of the 2020-21 season, the playoffs are a complete question mark. We don’t know if the NBA will attempt another bubble or how testing or a vaccine could impact decision-making.
There is still a lot to be decided and a lot could change by next summer.
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