NBA playoffs format change has millions of reasons for players and owners to vote against it
The NBA is again discussing a new seeding policy for its postseason, but until the money issue gets settled, no changes will be made.
NBA fans have for years been clamoring for the association to change how it seeds its postseason tournament. The association has attempted to satiate that murmuring with announcements that changes are being discussed, but the money in the current system simply won’t allow for a serious NBA playoffs format change.
The simple answer to the question of why a change hasn’t already taken place, or one isn’t imminent, is that a new system which would as evenly distribute the revenue garnered by the NBA postseason hasn’t been developed.
That money is quite significant. Just for the players on teams who qualify, the bonuses start in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For example last season, the Portland Trail Blazers shared their bonus that they got just for playing in the first round with the team’s support staff, which was over $200,000. For teams who advance in the postseason, the bonuses get bigger from there.
That’s just for the players. Coaches and general managers often have performance incentives for qualifying and advancing in the postseason in their contracts as well. Additionally, there is a huge monetary benefit to being a playoff team for the franchises and their owners as well. Advancing in and qualifying for the postseason comes with new opportunities for merchandise and sponsorships in both short-term and long-term ways.
Under the current system, NBA teams only have to record a winning percentage better than the worst seven teams in their respective conferences to qualify for the playoffs. The proposed change of going to a system that disregards the conference structure and takes the top 16 winning percentages regardless of conference affiliation would make it much more difficult to get a slice of the pie. In that system, teams would have to record a winning percentage better than the bottom 14 teams in the league to qualify.
That could result in a superior on-court product that the NBA’s broadcast partners would be excited about. The NBA is eager to respond to fan feedback as demonstrated by Commissioner Adam Silver’s assertion that a playoff format change is being discussed, but getting the association’s 30 individual owners to agree to decrease their odds of getting a cut of millions of dollars is a hard sell.
Even if the owners were to develop some form of expanded profit sharing system that guaranteed postseason revenue to all 30 franchises on an equivalent scale, the NBA Players Association would have to sign off on that system under the current collective bargaining agreement. Again, it would be a hard sell to convince the players to willingly limit their chances to earn playoff bonuses.
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A lot of NBA fans want the association to change its seeding procedure for the playoffs. The NBA is aware of that, and that’s why a discussion is seemingly always being held on the matter. Until a solution presents itself that allows for such a change while simultaneously preserving the current likelihood of cashing in on the postseason, no significant changes will occur.