George Cohen meets stakeholders before player-owner showdown on Tuesday – NBA Update
George Cohen, the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliatory Service (FMCS), met separately with NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) on Monday, October 17. The two sides are scheduled to meet
on Tuesday as they continue negotiating over the NBA labour dispute.
George Cohen will be present during the meeting as both sides have agreed to have him as a mediator after they were unable to resolve longstanding differences themselves. The NBPA and the NBA owners have been meeting for over one
year but have so far not been able to find a solution to the labour dispute.
When the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired, the league enforced a lockout on July 1st. Now in its 4th month, the lockout has already wiped out the NBA training camps and a pre-season. When on Monday
NBA Commissioner David Stern, after participating in another frustrating negotiation session, announced that the first two weeks of NBA regular basketball season have been cancelled, serious concerns were raised about the whole season.
The NBA owners and players have since decided to let Cohen mediate between them to try and save the NBA season for 2011-2012. Cohen, who was appointed as head of the FMCS by President Barrack Obama in 2009, has a growing reputation
and the respect of all involved parties.
He garnered praise for his role in resolving the Major League Soccer labour dispute before the season began, and now NBA fans would be hoping he can work his magic again to salvage something from the basketball season.
Cohen was in New York on Monday, visiting the offices of both parties. He talked to the owners and players separately in order to hear what each side had to say and also lay some ground rules for the meeting on Tuesday.
Cohen was spotted by reporters as he was leaving the office of the NBPA but declined to talk to them,
"I'm Cohen," he said as he walked down Lenox Ave. "But I can't comment. We'll begin tomorrow morning."
Time is running short for George and indeed for the NBA season 2011-2012. NBA Commissioner David Stern has already stated that if a resolution to the ongoing dispute is not achieved on Tuesday, he could not see there being any
NBA games around Christmas.
The threat does seem a little premature; especially considering that in the last lockout the NBA was able to have a 50 game season after reaching a compromise on January 6. However, Stern has been reliable with his deadlines thus
far; he cancelled the first two weeks on Monday, just as he had promised.
NBA fans would be hoping the presence of a federal mediator on Tuesday can soften Stern’s stance and persuade him to lay off the timetable, at least for a while.
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