NBA team owners "aren't willing to make major concessions" in the next CBA as they "seek to reshape their league using principles employed by the NFL," according to sources cited by Amy Shipley of the WASHINGTON POST. The owners appear to be "prepared to follow the lead of NFL’s ownership -- which locked its players out in mid-March -- if the players won’t accept at least some elements of a revamped, not merely smoothed out, economic system." NBA Commissioner David Stern and Deputy Commissioner & COO Adam Silver last week reiterated that 22 of the league's 30 teams "lost money this past year with collective losses at $300 million." But NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter contends that the "fact that television ratings, ticket sales and licensing revenue increased this season demonstrates the exact opposite: the league is thriving and requires no major fixes, other than, perhaps, some self-control on the part of certain team owners." Hunter maintains that "not even a single team is in the red, saying the union disputes elements of the league’s accounting, such as including as losses depreciation figures and certain third-party transactions with team-owned companies." Hunter: "They want a guaranteed profit for each team. Nobody in business gets a guaranteed profit. If we implement the system they are talking about, franchise values will go through the roof. People will be lining up to buy teams, because it’s a guaranteed return." He speculated that NBA ownership is "being swayed in part by a half-dozen owners -- including the Washington Wizards' Ted Leonsis -- who have experience in busting unions through their ownership stakes in NHL franchises." Hunter noted that revenue sharing is the one area "in which the players would embrace an NFL-like system" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/25).
DECERTIFICATION COMING? CBSSPORTS.com’s Ken Berger cited sources as saying that the NBPA, “anticipating a lockout … already has collected enough signatures to approve a vote for decertification.” Both sides in the NBA labor negotiation “have been closely monitoring the NFL labor case, and top NBA negotiators for more than a year have been holding out hope that a decertification by the players would be ruled a ‘sham’ by federal courts.” The NBA CBA expires on June 30 and if NBA owners and players are not able to reach a new agreement by July 1, “owners could still impose a lockout.” But U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson ruling in favor of the NFLPA and to lift the lockout, if upheld on appeal, “would make the tactic a moot point.” NBA players after decertifying “could file an anti-trust lawsuit in any federal jurisdiction where the NBA does business, but almost certainly would seek out the same court that ruled in the NFL players' favor.” The NBA and NBPA “now will wait potentially several weeks for the Eighth Circuit to rule on the NFL's appeal” (CBSSPORTS.com, 4/25). Lakers G and NBPA President Derek Fisher said, “Our goal is to get a deal done. Not to have to decertify or go into a court situation to drag the process out. NBA basketball has never been better” (LATIMES.com, 4/25).
STERN WARNING: Stern Friday night during Celtics-Knicks Game Three said the league is "preparing a revised proposal to submit to the players next week, and I would guess that we're going to go into very intensive meetings and negotiations now." Stern said he does not have a "gut feeling" about how the talks will turn out, but added, "All I know is that if June 30th comes and goes and nothing good has happened, it won't be for lack of trying, I believe, on both sides" ("Celtics-Knicks," ESPN, 4/22). In L.A., Mark Heisler wrote under the header, "David Stern Sounds Serious -- Which Means Threat To Next Season Must Be Serious" (L.A. TIMES, 4/24). But in New York, Kevin Gleason wrote under the header, "NBA Commish Should Pipe Down About Possible Lockout." With the NBA playoffs in full force, does Stern really "think it's the perfect time to discuss the NBA's impending labor strife?" Gleason: "What sports fan isn't itching for another offseason dominated by owner-player squabbling? But Stern, who always fancies himself as the smartest guy in the room, apparently needs to be told that nobody wants to hear him utter a word about a potential lockout" (Hudson Valley TIMES HERALD-RECORD, 4/24).
