NBA Commissioner David Stern yesterday said the league's goal going forward is to not "lose any money," according to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. Addressing the ongoing CBA talks before last night's Hawks-Bulls Eastern Conference Semifinals Game Two, Stern said, "I’m not going to be commissioner of a league that is comfortable (losing money). Because I don’t have a group of owners who find it acceptable for me to have that conversation with them." He added, "You don't have $4 billion worth of revenue and pay out over $2 billion in salary and benefits to lose money. It’s something that we have sort of gotten used to as the revenues have gone up … but the world has changed about the prospect for all franchises, the world has changed for a lot of reasons -- and economically -- and now people who make investments in buildings and things expect not to lose money" (NBA.com, 5/4). Meanwhile, Stern compared the NBA's labor situation with the NFL's and said litigation is "not appropriate to making a deal." He added, "We understand what a chaotic situation looks like, so we won't need to give away the negotiating process to a process that is nowhere near as controlling" (AP, 5/4).
LOCKOUT SEEMS LIKELY: NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter last night also spoke about CBA negotiations with owners and said, "They’ve submitted another proposal. If we have to choose between this one and another lockout, we’d welcome a lockout." NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO Adam Silver: "(Last time), it took us a lot longer to get to the economics. We view this more as a business deal, where the partners are going to split a large amount of money. There is much less rancor, and it’s less about putting who in their place" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/5). Knicks F Amar'e Stoudemire said, "We have a smart league where guys are really taking advantage of money management. ... The first step is starting to save. The second step is to now go over your expenses, your budget and look at areas where you can cut back. There are some areas where you can't because you have mortgages and things like that" (ESPN.com, 5/4).
