Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 at 9:00 am  |  92 responses

Amar’e Stoudemire: ‘Let’s Start Our Own League’


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Like every other NBA player, Amar’e Stoudemire is unhappy with the prospect of missing out on games. Should the lockout drag on over the next year, or (heaven forbid) even longer, STAT thinks the players should form their own league.

Stoudemire — who’s optimistic about the lockout ending soon, by the way — says that if playing overseas isn’t an option for some of the guys, why not create a competing entity to the NBA?

From the NY Times:

[Stoudemire] said he had received calls about playing overseas, but was not considering them. But he also said that if the lockout dragged on he “may entertain it more and more.” He then offered a more ambitious idea. “If you don’t go to Europe, then let’s start our own league,” he said. “That’s how I see it.” He said such a league would only happen if the lockout “goes one or two years.”

“It’s very, very, very serious,” he said. “It’s just a matter of us strategically coming up with a plan and a blueprint and putting it together. We want to play N.B.A. basketball, but if it doesn’t happen, then what are we going to do? Sit around and not do anything. So we got to figure out ways to now play basketball at a high level against top competition and have fun doing it. So that’s the next step.”

There’s no doubt that, if they were truly serious about this new league idea, NBA superstars could convince some sponsors to hop on board.

However, considering the long-standing relationships the L already has with the players’ biggest potential allies in corporate America — media conglomerates, sports apparel companies, marketing firms, etc. — it’s impossible to imagine that Stoudemire and friends would make anywhere near the kind of money they do in the NBA, to say nothing of the logistical nightmares that come with organizing and running an entire sports league.

The entrepreneurial spirit is noble and all, Amar’e, but the best thing for everyone involved here would be to quickly end the lockout, and get players back into NBA gyms.

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  • http://sajkflf.com Jukai

    ….. good luck, Amare….

  • Co Co

    Would you not agree that the reason the L has such long-standing relationships with all of these entities is because of the players?

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    What a freaking communist!

  • http://www.slamonline.com UNFROZEN CAVEMAN LAWYER

    STERN ‘WOULD’ NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN

  • marc

    Bring the ABA back lol

  • BlackStar

    Amare is buggin if he thinks it would be that easy for the players to start a new league and get the same amount of money he current gets from the Knicks. There’s so much stuff that goes on behind the scenes that people like him don’t deal with on a daily basis. These kats better hope this lockout ends sooner than later because making zero duckets after making millions each year is no bueno.

  • shm

    J$s*s Ch%st……cosign the last sentence of the article…..

  • http://www.slamonline.com Nick Tha Quick

    College education is important, kids.

  • BlackStar

    @ Nick – Word up!

  • http://twitter.com/#!/SaggyWheels @saggywheels

    @blackstar – where in that article does he say anything about getting the same amount of money he currently gets? And where does he insinuate that he will deal with any behind the scenes, planning, etc.? Someone would bite on the idea, and its a point of leverage if the players actually have to take it there. Its all highly improbable but its not bad to discuss it.

  • tony

    word to al davis amare

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    Get off some of your millions, Amare and get it started yourself.

  • http://slamonline.com Ugh

    NYC, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, LA, Houston, the Bay Area, Dallas and Seattle. Five teams per conference, all with good histories of attendance and a love for ‘ball (and then Dallas). Get players to opt in, have a draft, maybe each city can keep one star player from its NBA team. 50 games per season with some ‘barnstorming’ road games like the old NBA did, three rounds of playoffs. Fewer teams means the talent pool is far richer, means fans get to see the superstars more often. Fewer games means the players are fresher for more of the season, means higher highlight reels.
    It’d work if someone put up the capital outlay – the only problem being the players can’t pay themselves. Oh, wait. Shaq could bankroll this league singlehandedly.
    Let’s get to work.

  • Jake

    It would probably be a better idea to use one of the leagues already in existence

  • kj

    http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7058281/we-need-renegade-basketball-league
    Intresting write up from Bill Simmons a few days ago. Its about making a new leauge is the lockout persists.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    How about a NEW NBA minus the small market teams that are the real source to this lockout?

  • http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bulls-talk/2011 Diesel

    I’d like to see this. Let’s start our own league!!! Only problem is none of us are qualified to do this, so let’s higher some lawyers and business professionals to plan this for us. Wait, these lawyers and businessmen are starting to boss me around a little too much. Where’d all my money go? Damn!

  • bike

    This is shaping up to be one of those laugh your a%$ off days on the SLAM site.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    Sorry to those fans in small markets that need to be enabled by blood sucking system changes, but contraction is looking like a solution.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    Melo’s a top 5 talent, and he’s clutch. I’ll take that everyday of the week and twice on Sunday’s at the 3 in the Garden.

  • http://Www.fiba.com Darksaber

    Hilarious.
    Amare should take over on the two and a half men set for Kutcher, since he’s doing an excellent job telling jokes lately.

  • http://slamonline.com LA Huey

    This kind of talk is more empty than the majority of the superstars saying “I’m considering playing overseas”

  • BlackStar

    @saggywheels – My man … I think it is a fair assumption to say that Amare would want to make the same amount of money, sooner or later, if the players started their own league because going from making millions of dollars a year to getting paid wages that are possibly 1/10th of what he makes now is quite frankly retarded. Let’s say you make 100K at your job right now, but your boss locks you out of your job and you decide to go and do your own thing. Even making half of what you made before will hurt your pockets severely because you still have bills to pay and you need to live right? So whether the article states he’s expecting the same amount or money or not, as a business person, why would you get involved in something that isn’t going to bring about a solid return … or at least the same return that he had when he was in the NBA? And if Amare and other players don’t participate in the behind the scenes work and planning, who do you think would? That’s what happens when you start your own business … You have to do EVERYTHING for yourself. They are getting away with all these “charity” games at these gyms for now, but if they hold real games and expect fans to pay to see them, don’t you think the owner of the gym would charge the players for the use of their facility? And getting lawyers and businessmen to help with the process costs MONEY too. These kats are only celebrities due to the NBA … No one is going to “give” you anything for free for that long. I appreciate you playing devils advocate, but there’s not much to debate here. If these players don’t figure something out soon, they are going to be working at Home Depot along with Delonte West. Point, Blank, Period!

  • http://redoftoothandclaw.ca/ niQ

    Well there’s always the Impact League… lol

  • http://www.twitter.com/_dfrance dfrance21

    What about that league where the dudes jump around on trampolines and stuff? Slamball!

  • Ali

    GTFOH!

  • robb

    What’s up with Amar’e today?

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    They should have thought of this a long time ago. Who needs DStern and those greedy a** owners anyway, the NBA has always been all about the players and will always be.

  • Yesse

    Well, it’s not gonna be that easy.

  • http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bulls-talk/2011 Diesel

    Jtaylor – the players need them. Someone has to front the money to enable everything these players have become accustomed to. I’d like to see what Amare has to say when he has to front $100 million of his own money for basketball related activities and he has no guarantee that his new league he constructs will bring that money in. Or if he goes overseas and has to worry about whether or not the team he signed a contract with will actually pay him. Why do the owners need the players? You think the owners can’t just take all the NCAA & foreign players right now and create a league that’s almost as profitable? No the talent won’t be as high, but neither is the college game and that gets all kind of attention and draws in all kinds of dollars. Take your head out of the players’ a$$es and realize that as greedy as they are, the owners do serve a purpose and provide a service that the players need…otherwise, they would have created their own league a long long time ago.

  • Patrick

    Accept the 50/50 bri deal

  • Marx

    Since Amare landed in NY I swear everything that comes to mind shoots right out his mouth. Don’t get me wrong I have been fan of his from day one but sometimes saying a little less would make him seem more sane.

  • http://slamonline.com Ugh

    @Diesel – They don’t need ‘owners’, they need capital outlay to front wages and costs until the league becomes profitable. You don’t need a league of owners, which is what the NBA is right now, you can simply make do with investors. You think Nike and Apple don’t have the cash-in-hand to front a ten team league? Watch the American Basketball Co-operative, live on your iPad!

  • http://slamonline.com Ugh

    @Black Star – No, you have to do everything yourself when you start your own small business. If you think Amar’e and Melo would be driving the team bus and doing the accounting for the New York Whatevers you’re smoking rope.

  • http://bassbesteck.wordpress.com Bassbesteck

    this reminds me of an episode of “married… with children” where al and his buddies open up their own baseball league because of a player’s strike.

    But seriously: Why wouldn’t that work? There are enough endorsers, that have the money to put into teams. So maybe you would have sponsor’s Logos on the jersey, maybe teams be called McDonalds High Flyers or Dunkin Donuts Dunkers or whatever.

    That said: the possibility the same situation we are in now would happen again is still there.

    I generally think a smaller league (and maybe a bigger D-League) would help… Why keep franchises runnin and runnin, even if they fail to make an impact/succeed?

    20 Teams, each play 4 Games against each other, still enough season games and still enough basketball… done

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    No, the owners can not just take some NCAA & foreign rejects and start a profitable league. First off, no top NCAA player is just going to play for some league that has less than ideal competition/talent and most of the top european players rather stay in europe than play for a rag-tag league.
    What the players need is some serious capital, I’m pretty sure that there are some billionaires out there that would be willing to fund a player’s league. The problem would be coming up with a viable business plan but hey, what are lawyers and accountants for?

  • David Moore

    The A.B.A (Amare Basketball Association) LOL!

  • http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bulls-talk/2011 Diesel

    @ Ugh – I’m sure there’s a line around the block for people willing to provide capital outlay to an organization that will most likely lose large amounts of money its first few years…with no guarantee of it ever producing any profits. Not to mention your major competitor with brand recognition is still out there and can create huge competition and roadblocks along the way.
    This new league – it would have to play in front of some fairly sizeable crowds in order to draw a significant profit. Most of the stadiums that can support something like this are either dedicated to college teams at the time, owned by current NBA team owners, or owned by the city and have an existing contract in place with the NBA team. All previous footage of the player’s playing basketball in the NBA is owned by the NBA. The players can never use any of that footage to promote themselves ever again. You would need a sizeable media/tv deal (other than the ones already locked into contracts with the NBA) in order to draw viewers and advertising money…I doubt a bunch of people watching on their ipads would generate enough revenue to pay all these player’s current salaries. I’m not saying I agree with the owners, I’m just saying all this new league stuff is dummy talk. Players have little to no leverage, especially if they don’t decertify. So sign the deal and move on.

  • BlackStar

    @ Ugh – You might want to do a better job of proofreading your comments before you post them … Lol. Your first sentence sounds like you’re confused about agreeing with me or not. Whether Amare and Melo drive the team bus, do the accounting or find others to do it, the responsibility of making sure it happens is still in their lap. What Amare is saying is about the equivalent of a scientist deciding to leave the top pharmaceutical company in the world and start their own to rival his former employer. Can it be done? Yes. Will it be easy? Hell no!!! And who do you know “smokes rope”?

  • http://philosopher.view@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    YOU ppl are so afraid of change!! hated lebron for teaming up with superstars. hate change, why? start your own league!!! dont nobody wanna be a worker all they life. think of the FUTURE!!! they have plenty of money and plenty of wealthy companies that would sponser them. everybody scared to leave the plantation. S/O to amare

  • BlackStar

    @ Diesel – Thank you Chief for bringing up so many valid points! I’m with you … I’m on the players side, but if the owners really want to be gangsta, they will cancel the full season and get replacement players for next year. As much as we all love the current players, I would still watch the NBA with replacement players because I love basketball too much. The players better go for that 50/50 deal, or 51/49 if they are lucky, and keep it moving or their pockets will dry up quick!

  • http://philosopher.view@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    but then again, when you think like a worker you’ll always be a worker. but when you think about creating for yourself (even tho it comes with criticism) you can have your own!!

  • http://www.slamonline.com nbk

    never would work. sorry dreamers

  • AD

    this would be good… Amare may not be a businessman… but in this case he’s like an investor and im sure there are people who are willing to buy in2 this if their are enough players…. Of course they wont make enough money but it could be a solid threat..

  • http://www.slamonline.com UNFROZEN CAVEMAN LAWYER

    BLACKSTAR, DUDES FROM CODEMONKEYS SMOKE ROPE

  • http://www.slamonline.com UNFROZEN CAVEMAN LAWYER

    REAL SPIT FROM PHIL AT 1228

  • BlackStar

    Lol @ Caveman. Word …

  • dma

    Rule #1: No defense
    Rule #2: No fighting for rebounds
    Rule #3: Dunk hard

  • Double J

    The return of EBOY!

  • Cheryl

    It worked once and it can work again. NEW LEAGUE!!!!

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