Sport
NBA: Owners And Players In Talks To End Lockout
The plan now would be for 66 games if a resolution comes soon. The league played a 50-game schedule in 1998-99 during its last lockout, when a deal didn’t come until January, so there’s still hope of some games this season even if it doesn’t include Christmas.
Commissioner David Stern has said it would take about 30 days from an agreement to the start of the regular season.
David Boies, one of the attorneys representing the players, has repeatedly said he hoped the league would be compelled to settle rather than risk a potentially lengthy trial that could end with players being awarded about US$6 billion in damages.
Because the union disbanded, it cannot negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), but the settlement talks could lead to that. The CBA can only be completed once the union has reformed.
When talks broke down, the sides were still divided over the division of revenues and certain changes sought by owners to curb spending by big-market teams that players felt would limit or restrict their options in free agency. Owners are insistent on a 50-50 split of basketball-related income. Union officials indicated they could be open to that, even though they were guaranteed 57 percent in the old CBA, but only if the league conceded on some of the “system” issues.
With the union no longer representing the players, it was unclear who was involved in the new round of talks. National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) executive director Billy Hunter is officially part of the players’ legal team so he’s able to take part in the talks, though his participation in negotiations could strengthen the league’s contention that the disclaimer strategy was a “sham” and the union hadn’t really gone anywhere.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press.
