NBA set to cancel two more weeks of regular season – NBA Labour Dispute Update
According to sources, the league officials are close to announce the cancellation of two more weeks of the next NBA regular season. David Stern, the NBA commissioner, had cancelled the first two weeks on Monday, October 10, after
a breakdown in negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
The two sides, NBA owners and players union, met last week under the watchful gaze of federal mediator George Cohen to try and iron out their differences. However, even the head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
was unable to help them reach a common ground.
After talks broke off again on Thursday, October 21, many analysts expected more cancellations to come shortly and now it seems their fears are set to come true.
If only two more weeks are cancelled though, it would still be less than what was earlier speculated. Stern had warned that if the lockout wasn’t over by last Tuesday, he could be forced to cancel games from now up till Christmas,
effectively meaning the season would be in serious jeopardy.
Since the league hasn’t announced any cancellations so far, and is now only expected to wipe out two more weeks, there might still be hope for avoiding the worst. The path to a compromise though is very difficult, as both sides
appear to have dug in.
According to the Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association, Billy Hunter, the NBA has set a precondition for reopening talks; agree to a 50-50 split of the Basketball Related Income (BRI). That though just
doesn’t fly with the NBA players.
"Right now, they're saying it's got to be a precondition. If we're going to meet, you've got to agree to accept 50-50. So as long as that edict is out there, then when are we going to meet?" Billy Hunter said last week. "We're
saying we're unwilling to meet unless we can talk about the system independent of the number."
The NBPA last offered to take 52.5 percent of the BRI, down from 57 percent that they were guaranteed in the last BRI. They also hold principle differences from the owners on the issue of salary cap structure, with the owners pushing
for a hard and strict system and the players stressing for more flexibility.
If the issues are not resolved in time, the complete NBA season could be wiped out as both sides have hinted they could be prepared to go down that route. Hunter warned earlier that cancelling more games would be a step in the
wrong direction and lead to unpleasant consequences.
"This thing is on a slippery slope and we're already losing games, the first two weeks, and if we continue to go in that decline, it may become intractable to get people to move from their respective positions."
At the moment though, things are only going in one direction and that is not up.
Tags: