NBA Commissioner David Stern's report before Game 4 of the
Finals that "substantial progress" had been made in the labor
talks "hardly means peace is at hand," according to John Helyar
in this morning's WALL STREET JOURNAL. On the so-called "Bird
Exception," which allows teams to re-sign veterans at levels
above the cap, the league has offered to peg raises to the
average revenue growth for the previous three seasons -- about 8%
this year. NBPA Exec Dir Simon Gourdine: "We've offered to
tighten up a couple of exceptions, but we want no such cap on
veterans." On "Defined Gross Revenue," of which the players get
53%, the NBPA wants to add luxury box revenue -- $100M added to
last season's $924M total DRG. On licensing, the NBA would
guarantee the union $25M for the first three years of a nine-year
deal. Gourdine calls the union's current licensing cut, $500,000
out of $3B in annual sales, "a disaster." Agent Marc Fleisher
calls Stern's offer to raise the cap and the $25M in licensing
revenue "cosmetic money." Fleisher, whose father led the NBPA
during '86 negotiations: "It would be devastating if that were
accepted and we got a hard cap." Gourdine calls Stern's optimism
"legitimate spin," but adds: "There's still a lot of work to be
done" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/16).
HOW 'BOUT THAT O-RENA GUY? Stern told ESPN that the league
would examine sound effects incorporated during play. Stern:
"We are going to look in to it very closely and find a way to
lower the decibel count and to look carefully into how much is
needed in terms of extra entertainment while the game is being
played" ("SportsCenter," 6/15).
