The Tip-Off on the NBA's New Season

Expensive acquisitions, a last-minute referee contract, and new marketing schemes greet the 2009-2010 basketball season

By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek

1. NBA Season Opens

Is the NBA's future as scary as National Basketball Players Assn.'s Billy Hunter predicts? Who's the real man in the cape—the Magic's Dwight Howard or new Cavalier Shaquille O'Neal? As the league prepares to open its regular season in the days leading up to Halloween, NBA Commissioner David Stern deploys his usual bag of tricks in answering these questions and facing the still-ghoulish economy.

Asked about the Dwight vs. Shaq issue, Stern's answer is LeBron. "He hasn't won anything yet, but he may be the best player ever to descend to this planet," Stern says on this Tuesday's episode of The $ports Take on Versus. Commenting on the recent purchase of the Nets by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, Stern warns: "It hasn't been finalized. There's in effect a handshake, a term sheet. My understanding is that it will be reduced to a full-blown agreement in the next couple of weeks. The formal review process, background investigations, etc., will go into full swing, and if it's approved it will probably close in the first part of 2010." His impressions on heading to the new Cowboys Stadium for February's All-Star Game? "It's kind of neat. The one thing we know is that no shot from anyplace is going to hit the video board. We're feeling a sense of comfort about that."

Despite the economy, the NBA's rich appear to be getting richer. As Sports Illustrated notes, the five leading NBA title contenders this season beefed up their rosters with expensive acquisitions over the summer, moves that should lead to the most exciting title race in two decades.

The NBA staved off one crisis on Friday by reaching an agreement on a two-year contract with their referees' union, ending a month-long stint by replacement refs. But with a potential work stoppage looming a couple of seasons from now—mostly due to the haves vs. have-nots scenario—NBPA Executive Director Hunter last week stated that the NBA has told his union that owners "will lose 'hundreds of millions of dollars' over the course of the current" collective-bargaining agreement, based on the "last four years of the deal combined with projections of declines in revenue for the next two years." Another bargaining session has not yet been set.

In an innovative move to help fans get ready for the upcoming season, the NBA has launched a video rule book on www.nba.com that explains more than 100 rules—from charging to illegal screens to traveling, some of the game's most misunderstood calls—by using actual video clips from NBA games. The online rule book is expected to increase officiating transparency, a goal the league has tried to reach since it was entangled in the scandal surrounding former referee Tim Donaghy. NBA Executive Vice-President for Basketball Operations Stu Jackson says the feature "is just a great idea by some people here in basketball-referee operations."

Among individual franchises, the Los Angeles Clippers are hoping that top draft pick Blake Griffin will increase their appeal in a town where the Lakers dominate. The Clippers' average home attendance last season was 16,185; arena mate the Los Angeles Lakers sold out almost all of their games at the Staples Center's 19,079 capacity. And according to the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers have reached a 98% season-ticket renewal rate for this season, the NBA's highest. (The league average is 75%.) For the team and the league, that's a treat.

2. NBA Marketing Partners Soar

Despite the economy, corporate America still seems eager to hook its fortunes to the NBA. According to SportsBusiness Journal, the NBA begins the 2009-2010 season with "most of its pending renewals in the bag." Among returning sponsors are Nike (NKE), which extended its 17-year relationship with the league for five more years and lengthened its USA Basketball rights for seven years, through 2016.

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