NBA, NBPA reportedly remain at odds over season start date, with union pushing back on Dec. 22NBAE/GETTY IMAGES
The NBA fears delaying the start of the '20-21 season until January "could cost the league" an additional $500M to $1B in "revenue losses next season and beyond," according to sources cited by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. The consequences for NBA players "would be a steep drop in salaries due to the collective bargaining agreement's 50-50 revenue split between the league and players." Sources said that the NBA and NBPA still are "at odds over a start date to the season, with the union resisting thus far a league plan to open a shortened 72-game regular season on Dec. 22 and complete the NBA Finals before the Summer Olympics in July." Sources said that the union has "countered with a mid-January start." Sources added that there is a "level of impatience growing within the NBA, which wants to get a deal executed and get plans for a new season moving quickly." But sources said that "significant gaps remain between the NBA and NBPA on how the league will account for reductions in players' salaries in light of the significant financial losses" for '19-20 and "steeper projections of losses next year." Wojnarowski notes a mid-January start around Martin Luther King Day "would take the league's season past the July Summer Olympics and into the summer months, when the league fears television ratings would plummet" (ESPN.com, 10/30).
NO SUMMER LOVE: In Boston, Gary Washburn writes the the NBA does "not want to play into the summer." NBA owners instead "want to get the season back to its natural winter-to-early-summer schedule." Washburn: "Eventually, the NBA is going to have to get back to its normal calendar." To accommodate that, there is "going to be an abbreviated schedule and perhaps less travel, emphasizing intra-conference matchups" this season. One "final element is the potential reopening of the collective bargaining agreement, something the NBPA does not want" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/1).
COMING TOGETHER: In L.A., Dan Woike reported the NBA and NBPA agreed to "extend the deadline for either side to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement until Nov. 6." The deadline previously had been Friday. which "already was an extension" (L.A. TIMES, 10/31). In N.Y., Marc Berman wrote NBA Commissioner Adam Silver realizes "sacrificing right now with a fast start-up of Dec. 22 -- and a Dec. 1 training camp -- is the way to go for the good of the league’s suddenly shaky future." The NBA and its owners "realize fans won’t be piling into indoor arenas whether the opener is in December, January or February." NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts has been a "terrifically effective union president and negotiated favorable deals that boosted mid-level exceptions" to $10M per year for players "deemed a little better than average." Now it is her job to "convince the union’s constituents to see the NBA’s side of the accounting ledger" (N.Y. POST, 11/1).
