NBA owners expected to meet next week – NBA Labour Dispute Update
Instead of reaching a common ground, relations between NBA owners and players are only getting worse with time. After Monday’s calamitous announcement of cancellation of first two weeks of the next season, both parties are hardly
communicating and as it stands, now they will only meet with a mediator in between.
Billy Hunter was the first, who disclosed on a radio program that George Cohen, who played a pivotal role in culminating the NFL and Major League Soccer labour disputes, has jumped into the equation and is expected to breathe new
life into discussions between the NBPA and owners on Tuesday, October 18.
Cohen is a representative of the National Labour Relations Council (NLRC) and is widely thought to be a shrewd customer when it comes to chalking out solutions in labour disputes. Both sides in the labour dispute have been making
contradictory claims for some time now, but after the entrance of Cohen in the scenario, this won’t be possible.
To address the situation and create an apt strategy, NBA Commissioner David Stern is planning to stage a full Board of Governors meeting next week in New York. In that meeting the revenues sharing between franchise, independent
of the labour talks, and the whole negotiating process so far, will be discussed.
Stern and owners will also meet Cohen on Monday, before they meet the players, in his presence, on Tuesday.
With time running out to salvage the next season, pressure is mounting on both sides. Stern indicated today that if Tuesday’s talks break down, the whole NBA season might be at a peril.
"Right now, Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday, just before my owners come into town, having brought in the labor relations committee and Billy (Hunter) having brought in his executive committee, it's time to make the deal," Stern said
Thursday. "If we don't make it on Tuesday, my gut -- this is not in my official capacity of canceling games -- but my gut is that we won't be playing on Christmas Day."
The offers on both sides are also expected to get worse as time passes on and the NBA season cancellation becomes a certainty. The window to make a move is now and if the two sides continue to stick to their greedy stances, the
reputation and the popularity of the league may never be the same.
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