and kevin blackistone, a professor of sports journalism at the university of maryland.u both for being here. kevin, do you first. let's talk about the newest dispute of the newer of the two, basketball. what's at the heart of this disagreement? >> well as always it's money. and the nba is crying poverty. they'll tell you that 22 of their 30 teams didn't make any money last year andç don'áç hae much prospects for making any money in the near future if the continued financial plan they're working under isn't broken up and something else is put in its place. ton the players obviously don't want to give anything back. that's the big difference between the nba and the nfl. the nba owners and management are actually asking concessions from their players. >> howard beck, what would you add to that? help us understand the divide between the owners and the players in basketball. >> well, it basically breaks down along two lines for the nba. there's the philosophical or the stuck toural side of thisçç which is that they want to impose this hard salary cap instead of the soft ca

labor disputes with sally jenkins of the "washington post" and kevin blackistone of the university of maryland and espn. >> maybe it's time for fans to reassess why they're spending like crack addicts on the four major sports when there are lots of other affordable, available things to watch for a lot less money that appreciate the fans perhaps a little bit better and who value the fan more properly. >> with the n.f.l., it's very much reflective to me of what we're going through in america right now where in 201 you've had record profits in corporate america yet corporate america points to the economy, says it niece bad shape and pois to unions and workers and asks for concessions. that's the exact same thing going on in the n.f.l. when you talk about $9 billion in revenue. >> the deficit talks and the n.f.l./n.b.a. labor disputes coming up. every story needs a hero we can all root for. who beats the odds and comes out on top. but this isn't just a hollywood storyline. it's happening every day, all across america. every time a storefront opens. or the midnight oil is burned. or when s

joining me now, kevin blackistone, he's a professor of sports journalism at the university of maryland and a regular contributor to espn. >> thank you. >> hunt: and in our new york studios, sally jenkins, she's an author and sports columnist in for the "washington post." i confesso being a long time jenkins sick font but i am pleased to have them both on this program. thank you very much. sally, let me start with you. is this a battle in both cases of multimillionaires against billionaires and who should we cheer for? >> well, you know, that's been the statement all along. it's billionaires against millionaires. the difference between them is that the billionaire owners the ones who actually make the decisions when it comes to fiscal responsibility and the health of these leagues and they're the ones who who have been overspending and they're the ones who are crying poor because their business isn't working quite as well as they would like it to despite the fact that the n.f.l. had over $9 billion in revenue d the n.a. had over $4 billion in revenue. so the owners have explaining to do