More about today's negotiations and game cancelations

["Nathan A." <nj13@navix.net>]

NBA's image tarnished by work
stoppage 

By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Oct. 13, 1998 

Move over everybody -- the NBA has just lowered itself to the standards set
by the other three major professional sports leagues. 

                             For the first time in league history,
                             the NBA will suffer a work stoppage -
                             at least two weeks worth to be
                             exact. And considering the tenet of
                             the 3 1/2-hour negotiating session
                             with the players association, there
                             will be plenty more canceled games
                             before the talks get serious. 

The only result of Tuesday's session -- only the third official meeting
between the sides attempting to carve out a new collective bargaining
agreement -- was the NBPA's instruction to consider a luxury tax imposed
on owners to deter them from overpaying players. There was little doubt this
was a feeble attempt by the union to retain the soft cap that allows teams to
pay unlimited sums of money to free agents under the Larry Bird Exception.

IF IT'S A PLOY, SOME MIGHT CALL IT laughable. NBA commissioner
David Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik find it ironic that this is
back on the table. It was part of the initial agreement the players agreed to
in 1995 -- then was forced out by player agents and a few players -- when
former NBPA executive director Simon Guordine was fired. 

"In 1995 we made a deal that included a tax among other things that would
continue the growth of players' salaries," Stern said. "That deal was swept
aside by a firestorm of agents, and we went to our colleagues (team owners)
and asked 'do we go ahead with a work stoppage, or do we go ahead and
try to resurrect some deal that had some element of risk to it?' We elected
the latter to cobble together a deal that we hoped somehow would work." 

So they did the five-year deal with the option to re-open the contract if the
basketball-related income received
by the players exceeded 51
percent. Stern says now by all
estimates, last year it was closer
to 60 percent than the originally
agreed upon 48 percent. As for the
luxury tax, we see how it has
affected baseball -- the rich teams
keep getting richer and the other
teams are fighting to stay alive.
The climate of salaries is
completely different than it was
three years ago and that's why the
luxury tax is no longer a viable
alternative 

"It might act as a deterrent -- depending on how much money in taxes
somebody would have to pay for somebody making a contract of say $10
million (a year)," Granik said. "It can only work if it's a high enough
rate. Will
somebody have to pay $1, $2 or $0.50 for ever dollar over $10 million? It's
probably not effective enough to prevent teams with greater resources to
have the ability to pay the tax against teams with lesser resources who do
not." 

In other words, it ain't gonna work. 

UNDERSTANDING THE RAMIFICATIONS of canceling the first two weeks
of games will cost the league approximately $30 million revenue. Already it's
1/82nd of the games and the schedule is guaranteed to be a mess from
here on out if they manage to reach an agreement in the next six weeks. 

They've already sent out a statement for all teams to send out refunds to
season ticket-holders at the end of November (including preseason games)
for the first month plus six percent interest. Individual game ticket-holders
will receive the same refund or rain-checks for other games depending on
their preference. 

Stern sounded morose when speaking with the media. He almost had the
tone of an undertaker. After all, he's been representing the NBA for 30
years. He began as an attorney representing the league, then the general
counsel, and finally the commissioner. He views the unwillingness to
negotiate by executive director Billy Hunter and president Patrick Ewing to
be an abhorrent disrespect to the past and future of the league. 

Phone calls to the union were not returned to CBS SportsLine. But, it's
obvious they are waiting for arbitrator John Feerick to rule whether or not the
owners must pay the 200 or so players with guaranteed contracts during the
lockout. Feerick's court-imposed deadline is Oct. 18 to make a decision.
The owners are worried about that because of the money and because it will
galvanize the players. 

But Granik said, "It shouldn't matter. They are separate issues. We still
won't have a contract." 

So now we go on. Figure on the weekend or so for the next meeting when
the NBA tells the union the luxury tax won't work. It won't. Stern can call it
the "labels" that the players keep harping on ... hard cap, soft cap, Bird
Exception, etc., ... nonetheless, they are the issues. And right now, they
are insurmountable. 

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THE NBA WILL face upon settlement is the
apathy over the situation right now. With the entertainment dollar ever-
dwindling, plus resurgent baseball in the middle of the postseason and the
NFL and college football in the heart of the regular season -- the general
public will not show any sense of sympathy for either party. 

Nor should they. Stern sounds morose because he's nervous. Rightfully so.
He talked about the slim possibility of the luxury tax in a "Draconian form,"
working out. But he knew better. They are ready to pick up the pace of
negotiations. The players don't feel the same sense of urgency yet and they
probably won't until they start missing paychecks next month. 

"It's a completely different situation than it was in 1995," Stern said.
"This is
about a flaw in the deal. We're mindful of baseball teams losing money and
an NHL team filing bankruptcy. We need to get to a place where it's 51.8
percent or below for the owners and make certain guarantees. We have the
highest-priced union in the world and we believe we have a system that will
still allow our teams to make money. 

"So from our perspective, we want to pick up the pace, but only if there is a
pace to pick up. We're going to try real had to give them a proposal and
we're going to be available to march over to wherever we have to get to and
try to make a deal on a round-the-clock basis. We recognize the economic
realities and we're staying ready to do it on an accelerated pace if there's
anything to talk about." 

There's plenty to talk about. The bigger question would be: is anybody
listening?