Big Guys in the NBA and the Little Guy

There is more going on than you might expect in the NBA struggle. The players want money, the owners want money but the owners want something else. They want a salary cap to ensure more competitiveness among the teams and the players do not. The impasse has resulted in the cancellation of several weeks of games and no resolution is in sight. The players and the owners are taking a financial hit but there is more. The working man. The average guy hurt by the trickle down effect of the work stoppage. Said George Cohen, Federal Mediator: "It is evident that the ongoing dispute will result in a serious impact, not only upon the parties directly involved, but also, of major concern, on interstate commerce — i.e., the employers and working men and women who provide services related to the basketball games, and, more generally, on the economy of every city in which those games are scheduled to be played." And many of these teams already have considerable community "investment."

This looks like a good spot for TARP. The federal government could guarantee a portion of salary above the cap, even an elevated playing field and create work for the little guy.