David Stern takes a shot at players in lockout talk – NBA Labour Dispute Update
The NBA Commissioner David Stern took time out recently and talked about the situation in the NBA labour talks. The Commissioner mostly stuck to the official stance and did not pass on the opportunity to take a swipe at the NBA
players, something that has become increasingly common since the NBA season ended.
The players and NBA owners have vast difference of opinion with regards to a new CBA. The old one has expired and since then the league has declared a lockout. NBA owners argue that they have suffered losses over the last many
seasons, including around $300 million last season, and want a complete overhaul of the financial system.
The players have accepted that they need to concede some ground, and in their last proposal brought down their share of the BRI, which is net revenue of the NBA, down from 57 to 54 percent. That though is not nearly enough for
the owners who want it down to around 40 percent.
This leaves us with the lockout dragging on and no possible solution in sight at present. This is the latest Stern had to offer on the issue,
“I would say that we have very smart players,’’ said Stern, “who recognize that this system is very good to them. You got 13 players on a roster averaging $5 million apiece, that’s $65 million, and what the owners have said is,
‘We’re going to try very hard as we reset this thing to keep you as close to that number as we can.’”
“The NFL, which is usually profitable as opposed to the NBA, which isn’t, got the double-digit [revenue] reductions from their players. Our players will understand that when the rhetoric stops, the owners are trying to do the right
thing, and our players always try to do the right thing.’’ He continued.
What Stern failed to mention in his statement was the fact that the owners didn’t want to get the players close to that number, but lower than it and they want to keep them there. The league wants to set a limit in hard numbers
for the players, as opposed to the usual and fair policy of a percentage.
That means that the NBA players will earn less than what they earned this year, for the next ten years. Meanwhile the owners will pocket all the growth in income, which is expected to be in billions of dollars.
Nor did the Commissioner mention how it helps the negotiating process that the NBA filed a lawsuit against the players in a federal court.
The NBA lockout is going to drag on for quite a while if the league keeps up these tactics.
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