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Leagues and Governing Bodies

STERN SAYS LOCKOUT WILL CONTINUE IF UNION GOES BUST

     In an interview yesterday with the BOSTON GLOBE's Jackie
MacMullan, NBA Commissioner David Stern said he has "grave
concerns" about the '95-96 season opening on as scheduled on
November 3.  Stern:  "The owners have voted to maintain the
lockout until they have a collective bargaining agreement.  If
there's decertification the lockout will be maintained, and I
would say the season will not start." Stern, on decertification
as a way to save the season:  "I ask you to follow that through.
If they file for decertification, the judge will do what to save
the NBA season?  They say he will enjoin the lockout.  Then what?
What are the rules?  What is the status quo?  Decertification is
a bargaining ploy.  It's not genuine decertification, it's
pretend decertification.  In football, Gene Upshaw told the court
his union was going out of business.  It's amazing how it
reformed itself, wasn't it?"  Stern, on charges the new deal has
a "hard cap":  "That's public relations rhetoric.  There is an
exception for rookies.  You can pay them whatever you want, even
if you are over the cap.  There is a $1 million exception every
other year.  And there is the Larry Bird exception."  Stern said
they will hold off on a decision on the McDonald's Open until
after the vote (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/16).
     FACE-OFF:  In today's PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, Phil Sheridan
quotes both Stern and antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Kessler on the
dispute.  Kessler:  "This deal is much worse for the players than
the agreement they've been working under.  This deal will kill
free agency, reduce the number of guaranteed contracts and roll
back players' salaries."  Stern:  "Mr. Kessler has given (the
players) one bit of bad legal advice after another, beginning
with the advice that there would be no lockout.  Mr. Kessler has
told players the lockout would end and they will get paid if
there is decertification.  This is a mantra designed to get him
the biggest following, but it is flatly contradicted by every
precedent.  No court is going to order a business to conduct its
affairs during a labor stoppage. ... Mr. Kessler's guinea pigs
here are the 300-plus players who will make $700 million this
season.  If I were them, I would be questioning the quality of
Mr. Kessler's advice."  Kessler:  "Unfortunately, the
commissioner seems more interested in attacking personalities
than in discussing the merits of the deal.  This is a great deal
for the owners.  Why else would the commissioner be trying so
hard to convince the players to keep their union?  Could it be
because they want the union to be a shield?  I'd like to see the
legal advice their getting.  The only way a business can avoid
honoring its contracts is to go into bankruptcy.  Does anyone
seriously believe the commissioner is going to take the NBA into
bankruptcy?  They're going to walk away from the expansion fees
and the licensing revenue?  What sense does that make, other than
being a brilliant scare tactic?"  Stern:  "There were three or
four objections to the first deal.  This deal addresses all of
them.  The owners faced up to the prospects and made concessions.
I think most players will consider it and then vote to accept the
deal rather than decertification.  Left unsaid is that the
alternative is so inherently self-destructive as to be
unthinkable"  (Phil Sheridan, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 8/16).

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