With talks between the NBA’s locked-out players and owners breaking off, commissioner David Stern has announced the cancellation of games through Nov. 30th. Stern said it is “not possible, practical or prudent” for the league to play a full 82-game schedule now. Stern said while the two sides made progress on system issues during talks on Friday, progress halted when the topic turned to revenues.
Reiterating the league’s offer to a 50-percent split of basketball-related income with the players, Stern said union executive director Billy Hunter said “he was not willing to go a penny below 52 (percent.).
“He closed up his book and walked out of the room. And that’s where we are,” Stern said.
No further talks have been scheduled. “We’re not sure when we’re going to meet again, but we’re hopeful that soon enough we can get back at this and try and close this out,” union president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers said. “Today wasn’t the day.” Both sides had pointed toward Friday as the day they hoped to close the gap on the finances. Owners are insistent on a 50-50 split of revenues, while players last formally proposed they get 52.5 percent, leaving them about $100 million apart annually. Players were guaranteed 57 percent in the previous collective bargaining agreement. Hunter said the league initially moved its target down to 47 percent during Friday’s six-hour session, then returned to its previous proposal of 50 percent of revenues.
“We’re not quite sure if they’re at 50 or if they’re really at 47,” Fisher said. But Stern challenged that characterization, saying the league’s offer was 50 percent. The players will not accept a 50-50 split, Hunter said.
“Derek and I made it clear that we could not sell the 50-50 deal to our membership. Not with all the concessions that we’ve granted,” Hunter said. “We’ve got to have some dollars.”
“We feel like we’ve made concessions,” Fisher added. “Right now it’s not enough.”
Discussions about the salary cap system also proved problematic. “You get there and then all of a sudden they say well, we also have to have our number,” Hunter said, referring to the 50 percent revenue split proposal. “And you say, well you’re not negotiating in good faith. We trusted you one more time.”
Though they will miss a paycheck on Nov. 15, Hunter said each player would have received a minimum of $100,000 from the escrow money that was returned to them to make up the difference after salaries fell short of the guaranteed 57 percent of revenues last season. What the players won’t do is rush into a deal they might regret later, Fisher added.
“We’re trying to really remain focused on the fact that this deal, whether it’s on system or BRI, has to be one that our players for the next ten years can operate under,” he said. “We didn’t want to rush through this today just to close out a deal that’s going to impact our members for the next ten years.”
After two days of making some progress on salary-cap issues, the two sides turned their attention back to the revenue split Friday, the 120th day of the lockout. Talks broke down last week over that issue, and they had not attempted to deal with it since. The sides met for 7½ hours Thursday following a 15-hour marathon the previous day. Though no specifics have been offered, they both said there had been some compromise on system issues.
That created optimism that the lockout could be nearing an end, though that was believed possible a couple of times earlier this month, only to be followed by a setback. Sources told Broussard that Hunter spoke to players earlier Thursday and reiterated the union’s stance that players want at least a 52-48 split of basketball-related income.
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