If ya ssssmmmmeeelllll what the Pepsi Center is cooking

Posted on May 19th, 2009. Written by Emmett Jones.

Question:  How do you make the NBA playoffs more exciting?

If you’re answer was, “Add a steel cage match” or “hit someone with a chair” and you aren’t Nuggets Forward Kenyon Martin, Kenyon’s mom, or Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, then you must be talking about Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.  Why is game 4, which is to take place on May 25th in Denver, such a big deal? Its because World Wrestling Entertainment already reserved the Pepsi center for that night, for its Monday Night Raw program.

As of now, CNBC has learned that the WWE and the Pepsi Center are at an impasse. The WWE has had the date and venue booked since Aug. 15, 2008. This didn’t make WWE chairman Vince McMahon too pleased.

Said McMahon: “Even though the Denver Nuggets had a strong team this year and were projected to make the playoffs, obviously Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke did not have enough faith in his own team to hold the May 25^th date for a potential playoff game.”

Nicely done, Pepsi Center.  This almost sounds like a movie plot or an episode of Saved By The Bell (actually it is an episode of Saved By The Bell, but that’s neither here nor there).  No worries though! Its the NBA we’re talking about.  Haven’t you seen all of those “NBA Cares” commercials?  They are some of the most understanding people you would ever want to meet…right?

“The Nuggets and the WWE understand that the date of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals cannot be changed,” said NBA spokesman Mike Bass. “We are confident that the Pepsi Center and the WWE will resolve their scheduling conflict.”

NBC with the Irish whip of the WWE into the turnbuckle…Clothesline! It looks like the WWE is down for the count!

So, what is Stan Kroenke to do?  Does he really have any choice but to bow down to the czar, David Stern?  The NBA is clearly the bigger entity, with more yearly revenue (billions of dollars to about half a billion in 2007) and potentially higher ratings (ratings from the week ending May 10th are here) the NBA seems like the logical choice.  Of course, you run the very real risk of either being sued for breach of contract with the WWE, or paying out some sort of liquidated damages, the WWE as a future customer, and possibly losing out with other like businesses due to this particular bad business practice.  Obviously, the revenue the Pepsi Center would receive from a WWE event is worthwhile, because it helps pay the bills…especially in a recession.  But the Nuggets and to a larger extent the NBA are the big revenue draw; the ability to pay bills for any sustained amount of time would not exist without them.  So…how can you deny the NBA? (you can’t).

The NBA, where bullying Vince McMahon happens.

1 Responses »

1. 

   SportsCardGirl

   July 26, 2010 • 10:16 am

   If there would be a decrease for the players, it might have great impact on them and their performances is at stake. I hope that the passion would still be there.
   Regarding the declared lost, there might something wrong. But i still don’t want to judge. Lets just hope that this will be settled and hope that the life of NBA will still remain.

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