NBA labour talks following the right path; Negotiations to continue on Thursday – Lockout News
The NBA owners and players met for a second day under the supervision of George Cohen, the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), to continue talks on the labour dispute. The meeting, that took place
in New York, was termed as constructive by Cohen, who also revealed the two sides would meet again on Thursday.
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and the owners, led by NBA Commissioner David Stern, have been meeting each other for over a year and a half in order to resolve their differences. However, when last week it became
clear that the two sides would not be able to formulate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on their own, George Cohen was called in to mediate.
After the second meeting, George appeared optimistic in the press briefing,
"Everyone is extremely focused on the core issues, the difficult issues, that confront them," said Cohen, who had met with players and owners separately on Monday before starting the formal negotiations on Tuesday.
"The discussions have been direct and constructive," Cohen added while seated next to deputy FMCS director Scot Beckenbaugh, "and, as far as we are concerned, we are here to continue to help assist the parties to endeavour to reach
an agreement."
The key word in there was assist. Cohen is here to try and bring the two sides closer on the finer details of issues such as the salary cap and split of the Basketball Related Income (BRI). However, in the end, it is the two stakeholders
who would have to compromise.
They though wouldn’t comment after the meeting, and it was because Cohen had asked them not to. George believes a media blackout is vital to preserve the atmosphere of conciliation.
"Once you get into mediation, it's the ongoing rule and principle that everything said to us is on a confidential, off-the-record basis. We've been functioning that way. We've requested each of the two parties to conduct themselves
accordingly and I understand they have."
It was for this reason that the NBPA President Derek Fisher and Executive Director Billy Hunter, who have both not shied away from talking to reporters through the NBA lockout, did not divulge any information after Wednesday’s
session.
NBA Commissioner David Stern went one step further. He left the meeting a full 90 minutes before it ended, because he had to tend to some prior commitments.
In his absence, it is believed that the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban played a key role in bringing the two sides closer on many sensitive issues, including the BRI split. The meeting was much shorter than the one on Tuesday,
when the sides sat in for 15 plus hours, but still lasted for over 8 hours.
Hopefully more progress will be made on Thursday.
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