With only 11 percent of players from 1998-99 still in the league, history could repeat itself. But Fisher thinks players today are savvier. “I think guys are fairly aware of what’s going on in our country and around the world,†he said, “and I think everybody’s smart enough to know — even though they were probably 10 years old when the lockout happened in ‘99 — that would be bad for our business.â€
via ‘Setting the Table’ for Next Labor Negotiations – Off the Dribble Blog – NYTimes.com.
My immediate reaction was one word: Twitter. Twitter’s going to be a huge impact on how guy’s react in these meetings I think. Fan interaction is at an all-time high. It’s harder than ever for an athlete to be isolated, and furthermore, Twitter means that players are, to a certain extent, directly held accountable to their public perception. It’s not only going to affect them in terms of worrying about how people see them, but it means that people are more easily able to share with them, and they see how messed up economically the world is right now. Early word indicates that their concern is less the gross dolla dolla bills they’re getting, but more focusing on revenue sharing, which would mean better deals for a greater majority of players. You know, the way the Union is supposed to work. I’m hopeful this thing’s going to get done with no huge problems.
There’s probably a newspaper column from ’99 with someone talking about how the internet and Geocities is going to prevent a lockout. Gulp.
