Stern: "There are no guarantees that we're going to get it done but we're going to give it one heck of a shot tomorrow."
Stern: We're prepared to negotiate over everything . We're looking forward to it. (when asked if prepared to make economic move.)
Maxey one league source on current lockout talks: "have been told by a few teams that they expect to be ready to roll by nov.1st."...
HowardBeckNYT One hint that NBA is planning for 82-game season: League is asking arenas to hold open dates in late April, to arena officials.
briancmahoney My take: Today was largely a waiting day, tomorrow when it goes back to BRI talk is the sink or swim day. Just don't ask me which it'll be.
KBergCBS......... Stern on labor deal: Friday's the day NEW YORK – Setting up the next and most pivotal day in the NBA labor talks, negotiators will convene Friday with what commissioner David Stern described as “resolve” to finally close the gap and agree to the two key elements of a new collective bargaining agreement: the system and the split of revenues. “I can’t tell you we’ve resolved anything in such a big way, but there’s an element of continuity, familiarity and I would hope trust that would enable us to look forward to (Friday), where we anticipate there will be some important and additional progress or not,” Stern said in a news conference Thursday night after a 7 1-2 hour bargaining session at a luxury Manhattan hotel. “We’re looking forward to seeing whether something good can be made to happen,” Stern said. After spending 22 1-2 hours over two days hammering out many of the details of a new system that the league believes will foster more competitive balance, the moment of truth has arrived – for the third time this month. Two times prior, the negotiators expressed confidence they were within striking distance of one or the other key issue – the system or the split – only to have the talks fall apart in spectacular fashion. But according to several people involved in the negotiations or briefed on them, there has been a noticeable uptick in urgency to finally end the nearly four-month lockout, with the last realistic possibility to salvage games already canceled – and avoid canceling more – set to evaporate without a deal in the next several days. In a moment of levity that also pointed to the importance of Friday’s bargaining session, Stern chimed in from the back of the room during union executive director Billy Hunter’s news conference when Hunter was asked when the important, difficult moves would be made to finally close the deal. “Well, David Stern is sitting back there,” Hunter said. “I think he can probably tell you. Hopefully, sometime tomorrow.” And right on cue, Stern shouted jovially from the back of the room, “Tomorrow!” In another important moment from Thursday night’s separate news conferences – held only 18 hours after the 4 a.m. ET affairs earlier in the day – Stern was asked if the league was prepared to make another economic move Friday if necessary to get the deal done. The two sides are trying to agree on the framework of a new system of player contracts and team payrolls before proceeding with the final, most important, and interrelated piece of the negotiation: the split of BRI. “We’re prepared to negotiate over everything,” Stern said. “We’re looking forward to it.” The most recent formal proposals have the owners offering the players a 50-50 split of revenues, while the players have proposed a 52.5 percent share. The players received 57 percent under the previous six-year CBA. The split of revenues was not discussed Wednesday or Thursday, the parties said. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver, who has maintained that the BRI split and system issues are “not necessarily related,” said Thursday night that “trades are often made when you have the final pieces of a deal that you need to put together.” “We remain apart on both, so from that standpoint, we’re disapointed,” Silver said. Hunter does not share Silver’s view that the split and system structure are unrelated, and those two viewpoints must collide one last time Friday with urgency to reach an agreement and preserve a full 82-game schedule at its highest point since the lockout began July 1. “You definitely have to have some agreement on the system,” Hunter said. “Because if the system’s not right, then as we’ve indicated before, the number’s not going to work. And so the two are interrelated.” But while there remain significant details to be resolved over a more punitive luxury tax system and other rules governing trades and contracts, Stern’s demeanor was decidedly upbeat after a second consecutive day of trying to bridge the bargaining gap in a small-group format that clearly has gained traction and momentum. The rosters of negotiators were essentially the same as the 15-hour session held Wednesday into the early morning hours of Thursday. Stern, Silver, deputy general counsel Dan Rube, general counsel Richard Buchanan, labor relations committee chairman Peter Holt of the Spurs, Board of Governors chairman Glen Taylor of the Timberwolves, and James Dolan of the Knicks were joined by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who was flying through New York on his way home from Paris. Other than the absence of union economist Kevin Murphy (who will be present Friday) and the addition of vice president Roger Mason, the players’ contingent was intact with Hunter, president Derek Fisher, vice president Mo Evans, general counsel Ron Klempner and attorney Yared Alula. With negative rhetoric at a minimum only a week after the negotiations collapsed last Thursday over the BRI split, team executives around the league were beginning to prepare for a deal to be consummated. Several team executives have postponed international scouting trips they'd normally take at this time of year so they can be in place if and when a deal is agreed to. If a deal is reached, it will take about 30 days before the regular season can begin: at least two weeks to write up the agreement and have it ratified by both sides, and at least a week each of free agency and training camps/preseason games. But while Hunter said the two sides are "within striking distance of getting a deal" on the system issues and moving on to BRI, Silver cautioned that the two sides are "apart on both" the system and the split. Asked about the gap on the system issues, Stern said, "We are not close enough right now. But I expect with a good night’s sleep, we’ll both come in with resolve to get closer." But team executives who've heard this twice before, only to see the talks blow up -- on Oct. 4 over the BRI split and Oct. 10 over the system -- remained cautiously optimistic Thursday. One executive confided that his gut tells him "this will blow up one more time." " "There’s no guarantees we’ll get it done," Stern said. "But we’re going to give it one heck of a shot (Friday)."
Three reasons for the new mood October, 27, 2011 By Henry Abbott Derek Fisher declared "it gets tougher towards the end." Adam Silver said "we remain apart on both" systems and economic issues. "So from that standpoint," he added, "we're disappointed." But who will remember one more dose of gloom when, for the first time in a long time Thursday night, it came with some sunshine. David Stern and Billy Hunter started cracking smiles. Stern invaded Hunter's press conference and literally yukked it up from the back row. Hunter spied him there and called him out with a grin. Their back-and-forth included traded calls of "Tomorrow!" It's the first time either side has been this jolly, and the first time either side has declared a day as the day. Friday is the day, and no one's afraid to say it. "There are no guarantees that we'll get it done," says Stern, "but we're going to give it one heck of a shot tomorrow. I think that Billy and the union's negotiators feel the same way." He later added, in a notable softening of earlier public tones: "We're prepared to negotiate over everything. We're looking forward to it." We're looking forward to it? That does not sound one bit like war. What is the source of all this? One part of the story is that federal mediator George Cohen was effective. While he was not able to inspire final consensus last week, he did force meaningful progress on several of the trickier issues. Also, having blown through chances to prevent the lockout, the cancellation of the preseason, and missing the first weeks of the regular season, both sides appear to be genuinely motivated to meet the next deadline, coming any day now, which is the latest possible day to make a deal while preserving the chance of an 82-game season. A third contributing factor, according to multiple sources, has been the absence this week of one of the union's most feared negotiators, lawyer Jeffrey Kessler. Owners make no bones of the fact that Kessler, the first name in American sports law, is a bear in the bargaining room. Some point out that the NFL players only got a deal after Kessler left the room. (Kessler might point out that the NFL players didn't get the best deal.) Much was made of Portland owner Paul Allen's appearance in last week's mediated session. The suggestion was that he was there to send a message that owners were holding a hard line. NBA sources, however, say it was nothing of the sort. In fact, they say, he was there at the invitation of the NBA's negotiators to watch Kessler. Allen was one of several owners who thought Stern and Silver had made players an overly generous offer of 50 percent of basketball-related income. The league's lead negotiators essentially replied: go see for yourself. You think you can get Kessler to go for 47 percent? Good luck to you. In the ongoing dance between Hunter and NBA agents -- many of whom feel Hunter is soft, risk-averse, or ineffective -- Kessler has been seen as something of a shield for Hunter. If a tough lawyer like that will go for Hunter's deal, who are the agents to complain? But that shield has been out of action and not, sources insist, because he is in the doghouse. Kessler is a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf where he handles many kinds of complex litigation beyond sports, and chairs the global litigation department. That work has taken him to Russia for a few days, a period that happens to coincide with Stern and Hunter remembering how to laugh. The joke making the rounds is that politically connected Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov ought to have Kessler detained there. What's not a joke, however, is that Kessler has been absent just two days, and for better or for worse, as far as players are concerned, already there's anticipation of the announcement NBA fans have been craving for four months.
One idea in circulation, calls for teams playing up to 17 or 18 games a month to get in 82 by April's end
Will see how this plays out for season ticket holders. It could be rough going to on average two games a week, or having to sell tickets. My first lockout though as an STH.
Lockout update: BRI split to be discussed Friday 4 Comments By Chris Sheridan October 27, 2011 at 10:53 PM NEW YORK — Billy Hunter told the world the sides in the NBA lockout are “within striking distance of a deal,” and he told SheridanHoops.com even more: “The BRI split is the very first thing we are going to try to tackle in the morning.” Owners and players met for 7 1/2 more hours Thursday after putting in a nearly 15 1/2 hour session that began Wednesday and ended after 3 a.m. Thursday. Exhausted after the 23 hours of meetings, the sides called it a night relatively early and decided to resume negotiations at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Once again, the sides stayed away from the most thorny issue: The split of revenues known as basketball-related income. The owners are offering a 50/50 deal, the players are asking for 52.5 percent, and hardliners on both sides believe the other side should be giving the most when they try to meet somewhere in the middle. The subject has not been discussed since last Thursday, when the owners’ 50/50 offer was presented as a “take it or leave it” ultimatum and led to the acrimonious breakup of the talks. They have taken to calling it “the elephant in the room,” and the elephant will be front and center first thing in the morning, Hunter said as he left the talks. The sides have made progress on many salary cap system issues, but how punitive the new luxury tax will be remains a particularly sore sticking point. The 23 hours have been spent methodically plodding through several other system issues, and a middle ground still needs to be found on several of the particulars (i.e. maximum annual raises, which the union wants to keep at 10.5 percent for unrestricted free agents and 8 percent for others. The owners have been asking that those percentages be cut to 4.5 and 3, respectively, and it is unclear if they have moved off that position). “We’ve spent a lot of time on the system the in the last two days, and I expect that tomorrow we’ll be in a position to see whether we made adequate progress on that to be able to turn to the split,” commissioner David Stern said. “I think that we are not close enough right now (on system issues), but I expect with a good night’s sleep we’ll both come in with resolve to get closer.” Stern was asked straight up whether it would be a failure of the sides didn’t get a deal done in the next couple days. “Yes.” To which deputy commissioner Adam Silver decided to pose a question himself: “Could you elaborate? “No,” Stern said. “No elaboration, but the fair answer and the direct and honest answer is yes.” No to recap, there is no deal yet on several system issues, there has been no discussion of the BRI split — but there also have been no doomsday game cancellation press releases from the NBA’s media office. Friday, obviously, is crucial. “For deal-making purposes, everything’s on the table and there’s no question that trades are often made when you have the final pieces of a deal that you need to put together,” Silver said. ”But we remain apart on both, so from that standpoint we’re disappointed.” Said Stern: “There’s no guarantees we’ll get it done, but we’re going to give it one heck of a shot tomorrow. And I think Billy and the union’s negotiators feel the same way. I know that ours do. We’re prepared to negotiate over everything. “We’re looking forward to it,” Stern said. So is the entire basketball world.
Source also says NBA has agreed teams that pay tax should still get a share of tax proceeds. Old system DQ'd teams who went even $1 over.
Sam Amici NBA labor meetings begin at 10:30 this morning. Don't expect lockout to officially end today, but we are moving toward a season.
The NY Times says the #NBA is looking to push the regular season into the 2nd half of April in order to try to play full 82-game schedule.
Some notes of caution on NBA labor talks: "very, very difficult system issues" still to be settled, source says, including luxury tax plan
Mannix A good result for today will be a handshake deal on the system issues. Much as we want to talk split, getting one done would be huge.
