This Day is Sports Business History October 13

On October 13, 1998, the NBA made the unprecedented move of canceling regular season games due to a deep labor dispute between team owners and the players’ union. This marked the first time in league history that games were lost to a lockout, and it highlighted growing tensions over how basketball’s booming revenues should be shared. Owners argued that rising player salaries were unsustainable and sought a more restrictive salary cap and limitations on individual player contracts, while the players fought to preserve their earning power and freedom in negotiations. The standoff, which began in July 1998, dragged on for months, forcing the cancellation of 464 regular season games and costing both sides hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue and wages. The lockout finally ended in January 1999 with a new collective bargaining agreement that included a rookie salary scale, maximum contract limits, and a revamped revenue-sharing structure.