NBA will not talk without a 50-50 BRI split; First two weeks of next season done
It has been learnt that there will be no more meetings regarding the NBA lockout between the players union and the NBA owners before Monday, guaranteeing that the first two weeks of the season will be cancelled.
The sides were supposed to meet this weekend to continue the negotiations, but the plan took a setback after both seized to show any complacency in their stance.
Sources told ‘ESPN The Magazine’ that it was the union, which initially asked for the meeting. The owners agreed, but only on a condition of a 50-50 split of Basketball Related Income or BRI. Naturally, the union refused to comply.
The NBA is now blaming union for scuttling the weekends meeting. Talking to ESPN, NBA spokesman Tim Frank ratified the fact that owners are adhering to 50-50 income split. He added that it was players and not the owners who declined the meeting.
"We told the union today that we were willing to meet as early as Sunday," Frank said. "We also advised them that we were unwilling to move above the 50-50 split of revenues that was discussed between the parties on Tuesday but that we wanted to meet with them to discuss the many remaining open issues. The union declined."
The Players Union was determined to meet the NBA owners this weekend and give it a last shot. Derek Fisher, the president of NBPA, preferred to stay in New York rather than flying to Los Angeles after Tuesday’s session for the same reason. However, the owner’s hard line stance on the BRI has put the matter of starting the NBA season on time to bed.
There is a dispute over the particulars of 50-50 split too. According to sources, owners initially offered the players 49 percent in Tuesday’s meeting but raised it to 51 percent. Players responded with a proposal of a 51 percent share, which after getting some incentives would have gone to 53 percent.
Billy Hunter, the executive director of NBPA, will now to fly to Los Angeles to meet with players on Monday, rather than staying in New York and continue with the negotiations.
The events that have unfolded were expected after the NBPA and NBA owners refused to budge from their stands in a ‘do or die’ meeting on Tuesday, 4 October, 2011. The 2011-12 season now seems to be heading towards the same direction as the 98-99 season, which was reduced to 50 games due to the first ever labour dispute in NBA history.
Tags: