NBA Lockout Watch, Day 103: First Casualties Of The Season

The NBA canceled the first two weeks of the '11-12 season yesterday "after failing to reach a new labor agreement with its players," according to Adrian Wojnarowski of YAHOO SPORTS. League reps and NBPA officials met yesterday for nearly seven hours "in a last-ditch attempt to save the Nov. 1 scheduled start of the season," but NBA Commissioner David Stern said after the session, “We remain very, very apart on all issues.” The cancellations "include all games scheduled through Nov. 14." Stern also indicated that the owners’ proposals to the players "might only get worse so they can recoup losses incurred by the cancellation of games." The two sides spent Sunday night and much of yesterday "negotiating system issues that had the league’s owners pushing for harsh taxes for big-spending teams, a lowering of the midlevel salary-cap exception and the narrowing of players’ 'Larry Bird' exception rights." NBA sources said that the owners "want to reduce the annual midlevel exception for free agents from $5.8 million to $3 million with a maximum contract length of two years." Sources added that the owners also "want to limit the maximum length of contracts to four years for players re-signed by their own teams and three years for players joining new teams." But the union "didn’t want to go below five and four years." The league's current maximums are "six years for players re-signed by their own teams and five for other players." Sources said that the owners "also want to greatly penalize teams that exceed the salary cap," proposing that teams "won’t be allowed to pay the luxury tax more than twice in five years." Luxury tax-paying teams also could be "restricted from using the Bird exception to re-sign their own players." Although Stern has said that the owners "are no longer seeking a hard salary cap," union officials disagree. NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter said, “You can’t say you’re moving away from a hard cap, but then do everything else that brings about the same result. You’ve compressed salaries, and then you’ve fixed it so nobody is going to spend. You’ve got a hard-cap situation. That’s the reality" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/10).

WHAT’S NEXT? Stern noted that the two sides "don't have any future meetings scheduled, but will stay in communication." Hunter "plans to meet with players in Los Angeles on Thursday" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/10). Hunter will then "have a meeting with others on Friday in Texas." Stern said that he will "talk to owners in the next two days to decipher the next course of action" (N.Y. POST, 10/11). Both sides "seemed resigned Monday to another lengthy ordeal, with everyone proclaiming their resolve." In total, 100 games were canceled between Nov. 1-14, and each team "will lose between six and eight games." The league will realize "at least” $700-800M in lost revenue for each month of lost games, and most players will "miss their first paychecks on Nov. 15." Stern said that there is "virtually no chance that the games could be made up" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/11). In L.A., Lance Pugmire notes NBA teams last night "quickly deleted games scheduled before Nov. 15 from their websites" (L.A. TIMES, 10/11). USA TODAY's Jeff Zillgitt notes the league "will issue refunds plus 1% interest for season ticketholders for the entire preseason slate canceled and the first two weeks of the regular season" (USA TODAY, 10/11). Arenas affected by the cancellations "have been authorized to book other events for those dates" (PALM BEACH POST, 10/11). In Ft. Lauderdale, Ira Winderman notes rolling cancellations "are likely to follow, likely in two-week increments, which also are the increments that NBA player[s] are paid." Winderman: "In essence, Monday's move by the league cancels the players' first paycheck" of '11-12 (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 10/11). In N.Y., Fred Kerber notes the NBA "will need to, essentially, throw out the original schedule and start from scratch because canceling from Nov. 1 to Nov. 14 has created unbalanced schedules." Kerber notes although the league "called the move a 'cancellation,' and not a postponement, games eventually could be shifted or re-arranged." The NBA reportedly "has contingency plans for various scenarios, including schedules calling for 75, 70 or 60 games" (N.Y. POST, 10/11).

IT’S IN THE DETAILS: NBPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler said the owners' proposed luxury tax system is "just a hard cap in another name." In N.Y., Howard Beck notes the union "made a number of concessions over the last two days." The union indicated that on the financial side, it "had offered $1.1 billion in salary reductions over the course of a six-year" CBA. Beck notes for months, the "division of revenues seemed to be the thorniest issue," but Stern said yesterday, "We just can't get over the system hurdles" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/11). After spending two days negotiating system issues, Stern said, "We just moved, it seems, further apart than getting closer" (USA TODAY, 10/11). Sources said that the "primary stumbling block in [yesterday's] talks centered around a punitive luxury-tax system being pushed by the owners that the union views as a virtual hard salary cap" (ESPN.com, 10/10). SI.com's Chris Mannix noted that what "caused the latest breakdown in negotiations were disputes over system issues, which include ... the amount of money a team must pay for exceeding the luxury tax threshold." That issue "was particularly troubling to union representatives." The union "views those penalties (believed to be more than $4 for every $1 over the tax) as a de facto salary cap." Kessler said, "The BRI isn't going to doom the season. The hard cap will doom the season." Stern has repeatedly said that if the system issues "can be agreed to, the economic ones -- specifically the BRI -- are close enough that a deal can be made." Kessler yesterday "suggested the same." But Mannix noted getting the system issues settled "is looking like a tall task" (SI.com, 10/11).

HUNTER SAYS STERN FOLLOWING HIS PLAN: Hunter said the lockout "goes back to a comment that David said to me several years ago, when he said this is what my owners have to have." Hunter: "I said, 'Well, the only way you're going to get that is, you prepare to lock us out for a year or two.' And he's indicated to me that they're willing to do it. So my belief and contention is that everything that he's done has demonstrated that he's following that script." Hunter added, "I'm convinced that this was just all part of the plan." CBSSPORTS.com's Ken Berger wrote it was not the split of revenues that was the biggest issue “but the details.” Berger noted that the sides “were within reach of a deal on the economic split,” but spent 13 hours “over the past two days discussing those details." For Hunter, the more the details "were discussed, the more they seemed like the same stuff, just packaged differently." Hunter said, "Everybody's waiting for the players to cave. They figure that once a player misses a check or two, it's all over. And I'm saying to you that that would be a horrible mistake if they think that's going to happen, because it's not going to happen." Berger wrote, "What didn't happen Monday was a deal, and it wasn't because the owners and players couldn't agree on how to divide up $4 billion. It was because they couldn't agree on how to distribute the money to the players" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/11).

MEDIA MONITOR: The NBA cancelling the first two weeks of the regular season was discussed on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning, with CNBC’s Joe Kernen saying, “They should not probably liken themselves necessarily to the NFL in terms of fans will not be able to go on with their lives because they might be able to” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 10/11).
ABC’s “GMA” led the broadcast with the NBA cancelling games, with ABC’s Josh Elliott saying the cancellation “is not just bad news for basketball fans, but also for the cities who now stand to lose millions” (“GMA,” ABC, 10/11). CBS’ “The Early Show” and NBC’s “Today” had brief news reports in the first 15 minutes of the broadcast on the NBA cancelling the first two weeks of the regular season (THE DAILY). The 9:00am ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” this morning noted the NBA cancelling games in their opening news briefs, then aired a four-minute report 17 minutes into the broadcast, with ESPN’s Chris Broussard reporting from the site of the negotiations. Taped comments from Stern, Hunter and NBPA President Derek Fisher were aired, with Broussard saying, “After listening to both sides on Monday night, it’s hard to be optimistic” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 10/11). This morning NBA TV was airing a “Labor Update” special with NBA TV’s Steve Smith and Vince Cellini in-studio (THE DAILY).