I recall that. I shy away from arbitration because it puts the compensation in the hands of outside parties. But you should reiterate that in this thread anyway, just to add another idea to the discussion. http://www.sportstwo.com/posts/4175667/
It is the owners crying poor. The whole rationale for reducing the players' cut two CBAs ago was that so many teams were losing money. Supposedly. Having a team that's bound to paying expensive contracts for years to come would make the team harder to sell, lowering the value. Again, it's $billionaires buying the teams. I didn't see Balmer balk at the highest price ever for an NBA franchise. Some of the owners are in it for the business, so profit motive drives their decisions. Some of the owners would pay big to try and win. That's the history of sports, though.
