NBA Lockout Watch, Day 98: Grizzlies Send Refund Notices To Ticket Holders

The Grizzlies yesterday sent season-ticket holders a letter “updating them about the labor dispute with a reminder that they can be refunded money for games missed or keep an account with the franchise and accrue interest,” according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. Season-ticket holders who “opt for a full refund will receive their money with 1 percent interest.” The team will “mail refunds to season-ticket holders upon request at the end of each month that games are missed.” Customers who “prefer to receive an account credit will receive an additional 5 percent in interest when games are lost.” NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that the first two weeks of the season will be canceled Monday if no CBA has been reached by then. Meanwhile, Grizzlies coaches and execs “will take substantial pay cuts -- as much as 75 percent --- if the lockout continues.” There were “roughly 150 people employed by Hoops LP -- the Grizzlies' parent company -- before the lockout,” but that number “has been reduced by about 13 voluntary departures and seven layoffs.” Tillery notes there are no additional layoffs "are planned at the moment but that will change if regular-season games are lost.” The Grizzlies are also considering “company-wide furloughs and salary reductions” (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 10/6).

FEELING THE HEAT: In West Palm Beach, Ethan Skolnick cited sources as saying that members of the Heat’s “basketball operation -- coaches, trainers, scouts, equipment men, media-relations staffers and so on -- were presented with an option last fall.” To “guarantee that they kept their jobs during a potential lockout, the staff members had to accept a 10 percent pay cut from the lockout's July 1 start through Sept. 30.” On Oct. 1, that pay cut “was scheduled to grow to 25 percent through March 31 or until the lockout ended, whichever came first.” The agreement said that the “pay reduction would grow to 50 percent if the lockout continued past March 31, which would surely mean the loss of the entire season.” Sources said that Heat President Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra both “took cuts” (PALM BEACH POST, 10/5).