NBA Commissioner Adam Silver yesterday said that it is "too early to be concerned about a potential work stoppage" following the '16-17 season, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN N.Y. The league and the NBPA "can opt out" of the current CBA before the '17-18 season, and with stars like Cavaliers F LeBron James "talking about the impact of the NBA's new mammoth TV deal and how owners can't cry poverty at the next CBA negotiations, the league and the players could potentially find themselves in the midst of another labor dispute down the road." Silver following the NBA BOG meetings in N.Y. said, "We negotiated a 10-year collective bargaining agreement, there is a six-year out for either side. We are going into year four. We have, in my mind, something that is incredibly positive and that is two new great media deals. Fifty-one percent of that money goes to the players." Silver said that he "has been in contact" with NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts and union President Chris Paul. He added that the NBA "has begun discussions with the union about 'smoothing' in the money from the new television deals, so that there isn't a dramatic increase in the salary cap in 2016-17 which could impact free agency and teams' future planning and building" (ESPNNY.com, 10/22). Silver: "Putting money aside, I think the system elements are working in the new collective bargaining agreement. I can’t remember a time when we had so many competitive teams in the league, so much hope in markets throughout the league" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/23).
BURIED LEAD? CBSSPORTS.com's Ken Berger noted Silver yesterday "managed to slip an interesting line into his news conference: one-third of the league's 30 teams still are not making a profit." Given that the owners "ran the table" in the '11 labor talks, winning a 12% reduction in the players' share of revenues, this "was a significant revelation." The league's new $24B media-rights deal, taking effect in '16, is "not yet baked into the NBA's profit-loss statements." But it still is "ominous that so many teams still rely on revenue sharing to balance their books." Berger: "If all 30 teams aren't making a profit on July 1, 2017, is that reason enough for another lockout?" Silver said, "No, because the caveat has always been, if well managed." He added, "We've always said to the players' association ... you can make revenue sharing our issue, not yours. We've never come in and said because a particular team is unprofitable that that somehow becomes your problem. We recognize it's our obligation to run a well-managed league." Silver was asked if "achieving a hard cap -- which the owners pushed for and didn't get in the last round of bargaining -- will be a take-it-or-leave-it issue" in '17. He responded, "No, not at all. There's gradations of hardness in terms of the cap as well. I wish our current cap system was harder. It's what we proposed last time around, but we compromised" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/22).
