经济学人下载: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, 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, LeBron James of the Miami Heat, outplayed by a likeable legend, Dirk Nowitzki of the victorious Dallas Mavericks. 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 of our fans for our game. It just wasn’t a profitable one for the owners,” says David Stern, the league’s longtime commissioner. 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。