Power Play For Howard Case Study Essay
Case Study: "Power Play for Howard"
Derek W. Griffin
MGT/445
November 1, 2012
Juan Mobley
Case Study: "Power Play for Howard"
The need for a championship is a powerful force in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Anytime a star player becomes a free agent the negotiations begin. So was the case for Juwan Howard. Coming off all an All-Star year with the Washington Bullets and All-Rookie honors the year before, Juwan Howard was a free agent who was desperately sought out by the Miami Heat (Robeson, 2010). In the sports world this sort of negotiations happen all the time. Below will briefly describe the case study parameters and evaluate tangible and intangible benefits associated with negotiating contracts from Juwan Howard perspective and teams general managers perspectives.
Case Study “a Power Play for Howard”
Juwan met with his agent, David Falk, the night of July 11th at Chevy Chase Pavilion to negotiate 100 million dollar contract offers from NBA team executives. The fans for the Washington Bullets did not want to see their star player leave. Bullet fans flooded the street in hopes to convince Jawun to stay and lead the team to its first winning season …show more content…
in nine years. Juwan loyalty lay with his team and fans, for that Falk gave the Bullets General Manager Wes Unseld the honor of making the first offer. “Unseld offered a seven year, 78.4 million dollar contract” (Lewicki, Barry, & Saunders, 2007, p. 616). The offer would pay Jawun Howard a lucrative per game income of over $130,000 for the next seven years. Unfortunately, loyalty has its limits. Howard, with tears in his eyes, turned the offer down and looked elsewhere.
It would not take long for a player of this caliber to receive more offers. By noon the next day, Howard was offered a 100.8 million dollar contract from Miami Heat General Manager Pat Riley. Money was not the only benefits to come with the deal. Howard was guaranteed the finest hotel suits along with limousine services for all road games. This would be the largest contract in the history of the NBA and team sports. Guess money overcomes loyalty.
As Howards loyalty to the Bullets vanquish so did the Washington Bullets chances of reviving the clubs status. So they thought! Howard signed the contract with Miami only to have the league invalidate it because of financial woes. The salary cap of Miami Heat would have surpassed it limits with the offer made to Howard, therefore; the league invalidated the contract. The Heat would battle the decision through legal maneuvers, threats, and alliances. The legal battle also brought the NBA and the player’s union together through repudiation from Howard and coaches such as Pat Riley. However, when threatened with a 5 million dollar fine and a suspension of Riley for one year they backed down (Robeson, 2010). This would not end the opportunity to become the first million dollar contract in sports history though.
Opening night of the 1996-97 season, the Washington franchise was revitalized, Juwan Howard was wearing the old number 5 jersey for the Bullets. Howard did in fact sign a contract for 105 million dollars over seven years with the Washington Bullets (Celebrity Networth, 2011). Guess loyalty can be bought. Washington excitement engaged some changes for the club. Next year they would become the Washington Wizards and move into the MCI Center, a 20,600-seat arena. Not to be outdone, Howard made a few changes himself. With the newly found nine figure contract he bought a 230,000 dollar sports car, a luxury suit in the MCI Center, and contemplated buying an eight bedroom dream home equipped with evelvators, indoor and outdoor pools, a bowling alley, theater, basketball court. Who said money goes to ones head.
Howards Tangibles and Intangibles
Tangible factors deal with price or terms of the contract and “intangible factors are psychological motivations influencing the parties during a negotiation. “The Intangible factors of status and recognition may be as important as the tangible issues themselves” (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006, p. 51). Even though Howard did have loyalty to Washington Bullets the loyalty was not as tangible as belief he was worth more money. As it was figured out, Howard ultimately wanted more than just money. He had substantive interests, to include intangible dreams of owning an expensive sports car and having a nice place to live. The relationship between Howard and the general managers is seen as interdependence. Each needed the other in order to reach their tangibles. Howard was willing to lose his place in the team he had built at Washington to reach his goals. An intangible factor is Howard gained recognition form his superiors and peers as the first 100 million dollar contracted sports athlete. Every member of negotiations has their own reasons, sometimes the reasons may not be known.
Washington Bullets General Manager Perspective Wes Unseld desire was to keep Juwan Howard playing basketball for the Washington Bullets. Unseld goal was to keep the All-Star so the Washington could try and break a nine year losing streak and to please the Bullet fans. These goals are the tangibles. Intangibles could be Unseld did not have enough money to offer Howard, and he did not want Howard going to another team. However, after the rollercoaster ride Howard was put through with the Miami Heat Unseld did in fact come up with an offer suitable for Howard.
Miami Heat General Manager Perspective Pat Riley Had agenda not really mentioned in this case study.
Pat Riley was trying desperately to get three top players on the team to be competitive with the Chicago Bulls (Robeson, 2010). That would be a big intangible, Pat Riley wanted to win. A tangible, well was thought to be, was the amount of money offered to acquire Howard. That was until the NBA Association told Riley they did not have the money to make such an offer. Little known fact is Pat Riley likes to win and decided to take the league to court, an intangible. Unfortunately the league countered with a play of their own and Riley and Heat backed off, a tangible to the fact the desire to receive a specific outcome. That outcome was to not pay a five million dollar fine and not to have Riley suspended for one year (Robeson,
2010).
References
Celebrity Networth. (2011). Juwan Howard Net Worth, Salary, Contract. Retrieved from http://celebnetworth.org/juwan-howard-net-worth-salary-contract
Lewicki, R. J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D. M. (2007). Negotiation; readings, exercises, cases (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Irwin.
Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2006). Negotiation (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Irwin.
Robeson, A. (2010). Juwan Howard: How The Miami Heat Dodged a 'Bullet ' In 1996. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/423189-how-the-miami-heat-dodged-a-bullet-in-1996?2635171
Derek W. Griffin
MGT/445
November 1, 2012
Juan Mobley
Case Study: "Power Play for Howard"
The need for a championship is a powerful force in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Anytime a star player becomes a free agent the negotiations begin. So was the case for Juwan Howard. Coming off all an All-Star year with the Washington Bullets and All-Rookie honors the year before, Juwan Howard was a free agent who was desperately sought out by the Miami Heat (Robeson, 2010). In the sports world this sort of negotiations happen all the time. Below will briefly describe the case study parameters and evaluate tangible and intangible benefits associated with negotiating contracts from Juwan Howard perspective and teams general managers perspectives.
Case Study “a Power Play for Howard”
Juwan met with his agent, David Falk, the night of July 11th at Chevy Chase Pavilion to negotiate 100 million dollar contract offers from NBA team executives. The fans for the Washington Bullets did not want to see their star player leave. Bullet fans flooded the street in hopes to convince Jawun to stay and lead the team to its first winning season …show more content…
in nine years. Juwan loyalty lay with his team and fans, for that Falk gave the Bullets General Manager Wes Unseld the honor of making the first offer. “Unseld offered a seven year, 78.4 million dollar contract” (Lewicki, Barry, & Saunders, 2007, p. 616). The offer would pay Jawun Howard a lucrative per game income of over $130,000 for the next seven years. Unfortunately, loyalty has its limits. Howard, with tears in his eyes, turned the offer down and looked elsewhere.
It would not take long for a player of this caliber to receive more offers. By noon the next day, Howard was offered a 100.8 million dollar contract from Miami Heat General Manager Pat Riley. Money was not the only benefits to come with the deal. Howard was guaranteed the finest hotel suits along with limousine services for all road games. This would be the largest contract in the history of the NBA and team sports. Guess money overcomes loyalty.
As Howards loyalty to the Bullets vanquish so did the Washington Bullets chances of reviving the clubs status. So they thought! Howard signed the contract with Miami only to have the league invalidate it because of financial woes. The salary cap of Miami Heat would have surpassed it limits with the offer made to Howard, therefore; the league invalidated the contract. The Heat would battle the decision through legal maneuvers, threats, and alliances. The legal battle also brought the NBA and the player’s union together through repudiation from Howard and coaches such as Pat Riley. However, when threatened with a 5 million dollar fine and a suspension of Riley for one year they backed down (Robeson, 2010). This would not end the opportunity to become the first million dollar contract in sports history though.
Opening night of the 1996-97 season, the Washington franchise was revitalized, Juwan Howard was wearing the old number 5 jersey for the Bullets. Howard did in fact sign a contract for 105 million dollars over seven years with the Washington Bullets (Celebrity Networth, 2011). Guess loyalty can be bought. Washington excitement engaged some changes for the club. Next year they would become the Washington Wizards and move into the MCI Center, a 20,600-seat arena. Not to be outdone, Howard made a few changes himself. With the newly found nine figure contract he bought a 230,000 dollar sports car, a luxury suit in the MCI Center, and contemplated buying an eight bedroom dream home equipped with evelvators, indoor and outdoor pools, a bowling alley, theater, basketball court. Who said money goes to ones head.
Howards Tangibles and Intangibles
Tangible factors deal with price or terms of the contract and “intangible factors are psychological motivations influencing the parties during a negotiation. “The Intangible factors of status and recognition may be as important as the tangible issues themselves” (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006, p. 51). Even though Howard did have loyalty to Washington Bullets the loyalty was not as tangible as belief he was worth more money. As it was figured out, Howard ultimately wanted more than just money. He had substantive interests, to include intangible dreams of owning an expensive sports car and having a nice place to live. The relationship between Howard and the general managers is seen as interdependence. Each needed the other in order to reach their tangibles. Howard was willing to lose his place in the team he had built at Washington to reach his goals. An intangible factor is Howard gained recognition form his superiors and peers as the first 100 million dollar contracted sports athlete. Every member of negotiations has their own reasons, sometimes the reasons may not be known.
Washington Bullets General Manager Perspective Wes Unseld desire was to keep Juwan Howard playing basketball for the Washington Bullets. Unseld goal was to keep the All-Star so the Washington could try and break a nine year losing streak and to please the Bullet fans. These goals are the tangibles. Intangibles could be Unseld did not have enough money to offer Howard, and he did not want Howard going to another team. However, after the rollercoaster ride Howard was put through with the Miami Heat Unseld did in fact come up with an offer suitable for Howard.
Miami Heat General Manager Perspective Pat Riley Had agenda not really mentioned in this case study.
Pat Riley was trying desperately to get three top players on the team to be competitive with the Chicago Bulls (Robeson, 2010). That would be a big intangible, Pat Riley wanted to win. A tangible, well was thought to be, was the amount of money offered to acquire Howard. That was until the NBA Association told Riley they did not have the money to make such an offer. Little known fact is Pat Riley likes to win and decided to take the league to court, an intangible. Unfortunately the league countered with a play of their own and Riley and Heat backed off, a tangible to the fact the desire to receive a specific outcome. That outcome was to not pay a five million dollar fine and not to have Riley suspended for one year (Robeson,
2010).
References
Celebrity Networth. (2011). Juwan Howard Net Worth, Salary, Contract. Retrieved from http://celebnetworth.org/juwan-howard-net-worth-salary-contract
Lewicki, R. J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D. M. (2007). Negotiation; readings, exercises, cases (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Irwin.
Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2006). Negotiation (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Irwin.
Robeson, A. (2010). Juwan Howard: How The Miami Heat Dodged a 'Bullet ' In 1996. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/423189-how-the-miami-heat-dodged-a-bullet-in-1996?2635171