By Leopold Geans

Many CEO's think that part of being a CEO is an entitled bonus.

They eye it, chase it, dream about it, become it and most will lie, cheat and steal for it, fortunately history exists to keep us from making the same mistake twice, allegedly.

I'm old enough to remember Enron, it was only ten years ago but this story is about the ever resilient and entitled sports CEO.  

In 1998 two people, NBPA rep. Billy Hunter and Commissioner David Stern eyed each other down and cursed each other out, now they're doing it again. 

This is the fourth NBA lockout in NBA history, the last one occurred in 1998 and lasted 204 days and took away 50 games. Owners claimed to be losing monies to the sum of $370 million only to be found to have made a 4.8 percent profit in in 2009-2010.

The last time the NBA lost money was in 1998 after losing those 50 games and the All-Star game that year.

NBA players join the ranks of professional athletes facing a new deal in this modern era of sports.

       The NBA is still reeling off the classic Lakers vs. Celtics NBA finals match-up in 2008 and 2010. Throw in a Dallas Miami match-up in 2011 featuring two premium big city markets in Dallas and Miami and you have a league on the cusp of happiness.

Yet for some reason the NBA owners can’t make a profit?

A major issue with the claim of loss monies by the owners came into question. The players found out that the numbers they were given, were off and the negotiations started with a lie.

Oh, I feel so sorry for the owners who as a group had their arenas paid for by the American taxpayers to the tune of 2.8 billion. Throw in indirect subsidies and uncounted benefits and that number could be 20 to 40 percent higher.

They don't even pay for arenas anymore.

And they still made bad projections.

There is something to learn here when major corporations have the inability to be flexible while basing their merit on projections.

NBA owners are now telling the players that they made inaccurate projections.

The projections were inaccurate because the players earned more, they overachieved and as a result of their overachieving they are asked to take a pay cut?

You take the risk when owning a professional sports team, that’s your job to take the risk when it’s your company. Especially when you’re doling out and asking for no guaranteed contracts.

The current system with guaranteed contracts in the NBA is negotiable on a case-by-case basis. 

No guaranteed contracts means you pay more.

No allegiance to the hand that feeds you or the players that feed you is what is happening with the NBA and the NFL owners.

May I remind you that this is all because both the NFL and the NBA made more money than they were supposed to.

NBA and NFL leagues made more money than they were supposed to and the owners want their bonus, we all know how most CEO's will fight over their bonuses.

Remember Enron?

The NFL players and owners fought over a billion in profits.

NBA owners are looking like they want to keep every penny of NBA profits, which could backfire on the league for not acknowledging the plethora of talent gracing the NBA.

  The NFL is more aware of their talent pool and the rise of athleticism in the league yet stood to lose tons in profits if they held out on the players going into this season.

I sense that the NBA may not start until after the New Year if at all. I will also go on the record and say what I’ve been saying for years about the NBA and MLB.

If both the MLB and NBA shorten their egregiously long seasons they may stand to make more of a profit. 

With so many games and escalating ticket prices it's no wonder several NBA teams don’t sellout and one can see how a few teams may break even or make small margin profits. It is becoming too expensive to produce a game, even with all the sponsors.

The NBA is being shoved down our throats in November and December, a shorter NBA season would actually maximize profits for the NBA. If the demand isn't there don't force the issue.

The NBA should not be relying on an unhealthy corporate model dishing out these sour projections. 

NBA players have every right to doubt the league’s claim of financial losses, based off of these inaccurate corporate projections.

Deadspin's Tommy Crags explains the New Jersey Nets supposed $27.6 million loss in 2004.

"That’s not a real loss. That’s house money. The Nets didn’t have to write any checks for $25 million. What that $25 million represents is the amount by which Nets owners reduced their tax obligation under something called a roster depreciation allowance, or RDA.
Bear with me now. The RDA dates back to 1959, and was maybe Bill Veeck’s biggest hustle in a long lifetime of hustles. Veeck argued to the IRS that professional athletes, once they’ve been paid for, “waste away” like livestock. Therefore a sports team’s roster, like a farmer’s cattle or an office copy machine or a new Volvo, is a depreciable asset….
If we’re trying to arrive at some idea of how much money the Nets really made in 2004, we’ll need to do a little crude math. Knock out the $25.1 million RDA — a paper loss, remember — and add the $9.1 million in tax savings. Suddenly, that $27.6 million loss becomes a $6.6 million profit."

What is interesting is that the NBA had an operations budget of $183 million and it projected league revenues to decrease by 5 percent or around $180 million.

So what it looks like is that the owners want their bonus.

They want to keep all the money, even though the players offered a $100 million concession, it’s still not enough.

It may not be Enron but it's close, the big bogus numbers make them similar.

Don’t mess with the NBA CEO bonuses because they won’t want to play anymore as the NBA remains locked out, closed for business.