There’s been a lot of noise in the media about the new dress code being instituted by the NBA, and I thought we here at Spurs Dynasty should put our two cents in.
My take is (relatively) short and sweet:
The NBA certainly has the right to do this, just like any other employer.
The players should suck it up and deal with it – as they should even if they weren’t being paid assloads of money.
Is it racist? No. It’s primarily about money, as most business decisions are. The people in charge of the NBA think that by appealing to the wealthier segment of their audience and potential audience, they can make more money. But yes, it is primarily intended to target the hip-hop, “thuggy” style of dress popular among younger players. As such, like many things in America, it has inevitable racial overtones. But that’s different from being racist.
Finally…dress codes suck ass. I personally detest wearing formal clothing, as anyone who knows me could easily guess. And I feel a certain amount of sympathy for our own TD, who has complained about it. But as long as people are shallow (i.e. forever), there will always be superficial shit like dress codes to deal with.
Your thoughts, guys?
Allen Barra, sportswriter for The Wall Street Journal, discussed the new NBA dress code with Neal Conan this week on ” REL=”nofollow”>Talk of the Nation.
The dress code, which goes into effect November 1, requires NBA players to “wear business casual attire whenever they participate in team or league activities, including arriving at games, leaving games and making promotional or other appearances.”
Sounds like a reasonable idea — after all, the NBA is a business. But I wonder, what’s motivating the change? Is their target audience really wealthy business people?
Suns guard Raja Bell put it like this: “We don’t really sell to big business. We sell to kids and people who are into the NBA hip-hop world. They may be marketing to the wrong people with this.”
I doubt Pop’s men will have a problem with the change, although I’ve noticed that Tim does like to dress Island Casual.
Stern knows he already has the hip-hop audience locked down. What are they gonna do, become hockey fans?
One big role that corporations play is buying luxury suites, which account for a large percentage of each team’s ticket revenue. The league may also be anticipating a continuing rise in ticket prices that will necessitate getting more of the moneyed class to come out to games. And there’s probably more to it than that, but I’m not enough of a businessperson to break it down further.
To some degree this might also still be fallout from all the bad press the NBA got after the Pistons-Pacers fight last year. You would have thought the world was coming to an end. Personally, I’m surprised that incidents like that don’t happen a lot more often, as they do in Europe and South America.
Strong words from Tim:
“I think it’s a load of crap.”
“I understand what they’re trying to do with the hats and do-rags and jerseys and stuff. That’s fine. But I don’t understand why they would take it to this level. I think it’s basically retarded.
“I don’t like the direction they’re going, but who am I?
‘Shallow’ people is right on. The anal will always be with us … at least until Christ comes. Then they can answer to Him!