Wednesday, January 22, 2014

European Security and the NBA

One of the things I have marveled at over the past few years is how many professional sports trades are less about winning and more about getting under some kind of spending cap.  The NBA transaction wire is almost entirely about manipulating one's cap situation.  Why is this relevant for European security?  Because the Dutch military just made a deal to trade most of its armor (Leopard tanks) to Finland in exchange for money.  This is very much like many trades that seek to dump an expensive player in exchange for draft picks or contracts that can be dropped much sooner.

Perhaps the future of defence procurement will involve hiring the cap experts of the NFL and NBA, who know how to value talent and how to find places that will take expensive contracts off their hands.  Perhaps Canada will find a way to get someone else to take on the F-35 contract in exchange for .... hmmm ... a really good goalie or perhaps some draft picks.


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