League Officials and Player’s Union meet to discuss the Collective Bargaining Agreement – NBA Update
On Tuesday, the NBA owners and players union official carried out another round of discussions on the ongoing labour dispute about the Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA. The existing CBA will expire on June 30 and if a new
agreement is not reached in time, the league could face a lockout.
The two sides met earlier in Miami and have now got together in Dallas to exchange views on the issue that can result in a lockout. There is another meeting scheduled for Wednesday, which means that talks are still on the right
track.
However, the differences in the stances of the players and owners are very severe and it would take a lot of deliberating on both sides to reach a conclusion. The major issues are a reduction in player wages and shorter contracts.
The league has said that 22 of its 30 teams would suffer losses this season if the league continues to tread on the same line and as such the players should share the financial burden. The owners want a hard salary cap.
The players union on the other hand, insists that the business in the NBA is still good. The television ratings are very high and the Arena’s have been packed throughout the post season. Whatever losses the franchises are incurring
is due to the interests on their loans. They say that they would stand for only minor changes in the current CBA.
What progress was made in the talks held on Tuesday is hard to guess, with both sides already having agreed not to divulge any information on the matter, until a complete solution has been reached. Billy Hunter, executive director
of the National Basketball Players Association, did not make any comment after the talks, nor did Keyon Dooling or Roger Mason Jr., who are vice presidents of the union's executive committee. They had already declared not to talk to the media until after Wednesday’s
talks.
NBA Commissioner David Stern did talk, but he did not commit on anything. His words were more general than specific as he addressed the gathered press,
"I just take it as a real positive that we're continuing to meet," Stern said. "When you have parties like this, it's just as easy -- if you don't think that there's the possibility of a breakthrough -- to say, 'All right, let's
pack it in and let's go home.' But nobody on either side wanted to go home. They wanted to schedule for [Wednesday]."
What that basically meant is that there’s been no agreement, but neither a major disagreement that could threaten a breakdown in the talks. The two sides could even arrange another meeting on Thursday if talks on Wednesday bear
some fruit.
Stern added, "There was nothing that we said, 'OK, we have an agreement on this, and let's put it on the side.' There was a far-ranging discussion, literally on system issues and on split issues. Some of it was, in the language
of diplomacy, 'open' and 'frank.' "
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