With Talks Deadlocked, N.B.A. Heads for a Lockout
By HOWARD BECK
Published: June 30, 2011
...
Negotiators for the owners and the players union made a final attempt to broker a new labor deal Thursday afternoon, but they separated after three hours without an agreement to bridge a gap of several billion dollars.
Commissioner David Stern told union officials that he would urge owners to impose a lockout at midnight Thursday, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires, said Derek Fisher, the president of the players association.
Players and teams will be barred from contact with each other. Paychecks and health care will be suspended indefinitely. And all league business will cease until the owners and players find the means to overcome their philosophical and economic differences.
...
It could take months, if history is any guide. The last time the N.B.A. shut down, in 1998, it took more than six months to reach a deal, causing the league to lose games to a labor stoppage for the first time. After that lockout ended, on Jan. 6, 1999, the N.B.A. staged a condensed, 50-game season from February to May.
...
The league has enjoyed relative labor peace since the last lockout, renewing its collective bargaining agreement in 2005 with only modest changes and without an interruption of league business.
This time, though, owners are seeking a major overhaul of the league’s economic system and players are resisting any significant changes. The parties have hardly moved from their positions in the last 18 months of talks. Owners are insisting on a hard salary cap, shorter contracts and up to a 38 percent reduction in player salaries — which would represent the most dramatic changes to the system since the league first adopted the so-called soft salary cap in 1984.
Despite annual revenues estimated at $3.8 billion, owners say the existing system is broken. Twenty-two of 30 teams are losing money, with league wide losses exceeding $300 million a year, N.B.A. officials say. The players union disputes the figure and contends that the league could solve most of the problem with greater revenue sharing.
The players have nevertheless proposed a $100 million annual reduction in salaries, cutting their share of revenues to 54.3 percent, from 57 percent. Stern has dismissed that offer as modest. The league wants a 50-50 split of basketball-related revenues, but with a new formula that the union contends would reduce their share to below 40 percent.
...
Billy Hunter, executive director of the players association, said the union had no plans to decertify, a move made by the the N.F.L. players association, and said that the N.B.A. players would instead continue negotiating. The two sides agreed to meet again soon, possibly in the next two weeks. The union is also awaiting an NLRB ruling on its unfair-labor practice complaint, which could change the parameters of the discussion.
Meanwhile, both sides are keeping an eye on the N.F.L.’s case before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis that will decide whether the N.F.L. lockout is ended. That decision could impact the N.B.A.’s proceedings and the union’s determination whether to decertify.
“When the Eighth Circuit rules, there will be a lot more information for everybody,†said Jeffrey Kessler, the N.B.P.A.’s outside counsel, who is also involved with the N.F.L. players’ case.The lockout comes as the N.B.A. is coming off a captivating season, with record-setting ratings and revenue and a renewed interest among casual fans because of the rise of the Miami Heat and a rising crop of new stars. The league’s popularity is perhaps at its highest point since Michael Jordan retired in 1998.