NBA labour talks hit the wall; None planned in immediate future – NBA Lockout Update
The NBA players and owners were unable to resolve their differences over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and broke off talks on Thursday, October 20, despite the presence of George Cohen, the head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).
Cohen oversaw three days and nearly 30 hours of talks between NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), but was unable to help them reach a common ground on critical issues.
"In these circumstances, after carefully reviewing all of the events that have transpired, it is the considered judgment of myself ... that no useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time," Cohen said in a statement afterwards.
The NBA owners, led by NBA Commissioner David Stern, reportedly refused to lower their demands on the two core issues of salary cap structure and Basketball Related Income (BRI) split. The NBA has argued that they need to make drastic changes in the CBA because they have lost money over the last few seasons and want to make the league more competitive in the long run.
The players have dismissed the demands, although they have showed significant flexibility in their position. Players were guaranteed 57 percent of the BRI in the previous CBA but reportedly offered to come as low as 52.5 percent when the sides met on Thursday. That though was still not good enough for the owners who seem to have been holding out for a 50-50 split.
Cohen had succeeded in getting both sides closer on most of the minor issue in the labour dispute during the 3 days he mediated talks, but said the two sides had principle differences on key issues that were irreconcilable at the time.
No more talks have been scheduled as of yet and it is expected that NBA Commissioner David Stern will soon announce cancellation of more NBA regular season games. Stern, who has already cancelled the first two weeks of NBA action, had warned earlier that if a solution to the dispute was not found this week, he could cancel games until Christmas.
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