I can’t believe this is happening! The NBA owners have locked out their players because a new labor agreement hasn’t been reached. They now join the NFL owners who locked their players out over 100 days ago and counting. Two of our major pro sports leagues are now on shutdown and the only losers are the fans!
NEW YORK (AP) — Union chief Billy Hunter said Thursday “it’s obvious the lockout will happen tonight” after players and owners failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement, potentially putting the 2011-12 season in jeopardy.
Despite a three-hour meeting Thursday and a final proposal from the players – which NBA leaders said would have raised average player salaries to $7 million in the sixth year of the deal – the sides could not close the enormous gulf between their positions.
“The problem is that there’s such a gap in terms of the numbers, where they are and where we are, and we just can’t find any way to bridge that gap,” Hunter said.
The CBA expires at midnight, after which all league business is officially on hold, starting with the free agency period that would have opened Friday.
Commissioner David Stern said “with some sadness” he would recommend later Thursday to the labor relations committee that the first lockout since the 1998-99 season be imposed. Teams will be prohibited from having any contact with their players, who can’t come to team facilities.
Once the NBA takes that action, two of four major professional sports in the United States will be locked out. The NFL locked out its players in March, and the two sides have been in discussions this week, trying to work toward a new deal.
“Needless to say we’re disappointed that this is where we find ourselves,” Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said.
The last lockout reduced the 1998-99 season to just a 50-game schedule, the only time the NBA missed games for a work stoppage. Hunter said it’s too early to be concerned about that.
“I hope it doesn’t come down to that,” he said. “Obviously, the clock is now running with regard to whether or not there will or will be a loss of games, and so I’m hoping that over the next month or so that there will be sort of a softening on their side and maybe we have to soften our position as well.”
Despite frequent meetings this month, the sides just didn’t make much progress.
Owners want to reduce the players’ guarantee of 57 percent of basketball revenue and weren’t interested in the players’ offer to drop it to 54.3 percent – though players said that would have cut their salaries by $500 million over five years.
They sparred over the league’s characterization of its “flex” salary cap proposal – players considered it a hard cap, which they oppose – and any chance of a last-minute deal was quickly lost Thursday when league officials said the union’s move was in the wrong direction financially.
About 90 percent of NBA players get paid from Nov. 15 through April 30, so they won’t be missing checks for a while. But Stern has warned that the offers only get worse once a lockout starts, so the league could try to push through elements of its original proposal when bargaining resumes.
Like with the NFL lockout, NBA players won’t be the only ones affected. Employees of teams and the league also face a very uncertain future. Stern admitted all options would be considered, including furloughs for his employees.
“The people who stand to have their livings impacted by a shutdown of our industry are going to have a negative view of both sides,” Stern said. “I think our fans will tend to have a negative view of why can’t you guys work this thing out.”
