Pivotal meetings tomorrow. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/6962857/pivotal-stretch-nba-lockout-starts-tuesday
NBA POSTPONES TRAINING CAMPS FOR 2011-12 SEASON, CANCELS 43 PRESEASON GAMES NEW YORK, September 23, 2011--The NBA announced today that player training camps for the 2011-12 season have been postponed indefinitely because a new collective bargaining agreement has not been reached with the National Basketball Players Association. Training camps were scheduled to open on October 3. In addition, the league canceled all preseason games scheduled from October 9 through October 15. “We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” said NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver. “We will make further decisions as warranted.” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk..... Cause I'm a balla'!
Letter to fans from Larry Miller http://www.nba.com/blazers/news/letter_from_trail_blazers_pres_2011_09_23.html
Don't season ticket holders pay for preseason games? Nice of Larry to say what happens to that money.
Yes. Why would he say that in a letter to all fans? That's something that's probably handled on a more personal level... phone call/email to each season ticket holder.
The latest from Berger @ CBSSports....... NEW YORK -- Negotiators from the NBA and its players' union ended bargaining talks after about two hours Tuesday, retreating to separate meetings at their offices with both sides acknowledging that there was something to think about. Whether it was enough to propel the negotiations toward the possible foundation of a new collective bargaining agreement, commissioner David Stern said, "We will know more after (Wednesday's) session." Derek Fisher, president of the National Basketball Players Association, said the two sides "talked extensively about ideas and concepts. These are things that if we could get into the range or get into the zone, maybe we can put a deal together." The league and union will reconvene Wednesday morning with one eye on the religious calendar -- Thursday and Friday will be off limits for several key negotiators due to Rosh Hashanah -- and one eye on the basketball calendar. About four weeks remain before the scheduled start of the regular season, or approximately the amount of time that would be needed to finalize details of any deal points agreed upon and crank up free agency and a truncated preseason schedule. Optimism? It's almost impossible to read tea leaves and body language in these talks, but Wednesday seems like a turning point -- one way or another. "Sometimes when you discuss concepts, you want to go back and think about it," Stern said. What is there to think about? That is the $1.9 billion question. At last check, that's how far apart the two sides appeared to be on the economics as they prepared to tread on the hallowed ground of system issues -- the hard salary cap vs. the existing system with a plethora of exceptions and a luxury tax. Sources have told CBSSports.com that both sides have signaled a willingness to negotiate system issues, with one person connected to the talks saying that a deal is "there for the taking." Asked whether Tuesday's session was dedicated to the economic split or the system, Fisher and Stern said they discussed both. "We’re not holding anybody accountable to ideas being thrown out in the room," Fisher said. "It’s really just a process that we’re trying to go through." After the dour disposition he exhibited after last week's meeting, Stern was all smiles Tuesday -- but cautioned reporters not to read anything into it. He described the meeting, about three hours shorter than the sessions typically have run, as "quality time." "When I didn’t smile the last time, I was described as something between dour and surly, so this is my smiling face," Stern said. "And we had a … we’re looking forward to reconvening tomorrow." Or, maybe it was the cake that I had delivered to the negotiating room (see pic below), which resulted in the requisite laughs on the sidewalk outside the Upper East Side hotel where the bargaining took place. "Most important," Stern said outside the hotel, "we've saved the cake for breakfast." All kidding aside, the split -- how much of the league's $4 billion in annual revenues each side should get -- remains the crux of the negotiations. According to sources, the owners made the last economic move, increasing the proposed players' share of basketball-related income (BRI) from about 44 percent in their late June proposal to 46 percent. The players' most recent proposal called for a salary freeze in 2011-12 (the same $2.17 billion they made last season) followed by a 54 percent share of BRI as a starting point for the rest of the deal. The key economic sticking point is that the owners have failed to offer the players what they consider to be a fair share of future revenue increases, which union economist Kevin Murphy and others have estimated at 4 percent a year. In fact, under the owners' June proposal of a flat $2 billion annually for eight years, the players' share would decline from about 51 percent in the first year to 39 percent in the eighth. One important point to consider about the early ending to Tuesday's meeting: Murphy was traveling from the West Coast and unable to attend the session -- which was hastily scheduled after NBPA executive director Billy Hunter postponed a regional meeting in Miami to hold two days of bargaining sessions instead. It is believed that Hunter agreed to Tuesday's meeting with the understanding that he would not be prepared to move forward with economic proposals without Murphy there to examine them -- especially if the numbers involved the players' share of future revenue increases. The owners have pushed from the beginning for a 10-year deal, while the players have offered no more than six. A person with knowledge of the talks told CBSSports.com that Hunter also is hesitant to agree to a deal that extends beyond the expiration of the NBA's TV contract, which runs through the 2015-16 season, without assurances that the players will get a fair share of what is expected to be a sizeable increase in rights fees. Without such assurances, Hunter would push for an opt-out after the 2015-16 season, which would be the fifth year of a new CBA. Fisher said no formal proposals were exchanged Tuesday, in keeping with the linguistic gymnastics the two sides have used with regard to what constitutes a concept vs. a proposal. At some point, concepts will become a proposal, and sometime soon, those proposals had better become the foundation of an agreement -- or more preseason games are likely to be canceled by next week and an on-time start to the regular season will be in serious jeopardy. Asked if the two sides would continue to meet if the negotiations weren't moving forward, Stern said, "We won’t really be able to answer that question fully until after (Wednesday's) session." Looking like a big day. How u.
No real progress reported Wednesday, appears we are approaching a critical juncture as a meeting is scheduled Friday and maybe this weekend. Appears make or break to me. Full committees, some additional owners and key players will be present Friday. http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htm
This will be a non story by next week I think. I think significant strides will be made over the weekend. Just a gut feeling
I agree, the sides are close enough that they will end up working something out instead of both losing massive amounts of money. Last report I read on ESPN had players offering to receive 54% of revenue and owners at 46%, I bet in the end both sides would be willing to accept a deal at 50/50. We may lose a few games at the start of the season while details get finalized but that is just too small of a gap for everyone to give up the entire season.
In reading a lot of the "rumors and comments" this morning it seems as if the owners are very much in the driver's seat and will likely get much of what they wanted and are in essence telling players what they get now will likely be better then what they get after a strike. Players seem in a very weak position
Woj has a great column about how much the owners are in the drivers seat http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...g=aw-wojnarowski_nba_labor_david_stern_092911
Bucher's column suggests "conditions" by the owners that are IMO very attainable. If this is all it would take then I see a deal being made. You guys see any problems with these? (Other than the BRI being closer to 50% than 48%) http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7...tern-threaten-cancellation-season-sources-say "Bucher reported Tuesday night that owners did not offer players a finite annual team limit on salaries but are willing to relax their insistence on a hard cap only if certain conditions are met. Those conditions include: • The "Larry Bird exception," which allows teams to exceed the cap to retain their own free agents regardless of their other committed salaries, is limited to one player per team per season. • The mid-level exception, which the league valued at $5.8 million last season and could be extended by as many as five years, is reduced in length and size. • The current luxury tax, the $1-for-$1 penalty a team must pay to the league for the amount it exceeds the salary cap, is to be severely increased. In last week's negotiating session, owners proposed that the players' share of basketball-related income (BRI) be sliced from 57 percent to 46 percent. Broussard reported Tuesday that the owners' BRI offer had increased to 48 percent. Sources say that the owners also want a five percent reduction on all existing salaries for this season, a 7.5 percent reduction of all 2012-13 salaries and 10 percent reduction of 2013-14 salaries.
