[Chicago Tribune] [SPORTS] [BULLS]
A slam-dunk for NBA
owners
Ruling excuses them from
paying locked-out players
By Sam Smith
Tribune Pro Basketball
Writer
October 20, 1998
Most are short, some are
stocky and none can dunk
a basketball. But Monday,
NBA owners came up with a
big score with a decisive
arbitrator's ruling that
excuses the league's 29
owners from paying 226
players more than $700
million in guaranteed
salaries during the NBA's
lockout of players, which
was in its 11th day
Monday.
The owners' victory from
arbitrator John Feerick
makes it possible the
league won't feel
pressure to settle the
labor dispute quickly.
The league now can hope
the players' resolve will
collapse without pay and
it can obtain a superior
deal.
For their part, the
players, who have
strategy sessions planned
Wednesday and Thursday in
Las Vegas, already are
hinting broadly about an
NFL-like movement to
decertify their union.
This inevitably would
take the fight to court
and certainly imperil the
season because the
players would contend
that with no union--and
thus no bargaining
rules--all guaranteed
contracts would have to
be honored.
And it would be baseball
all over again.
``If you thought the guys
were zealous about
staying committed now,
they're probably even
more rabid than before,''
said Billy Hunter, the
union's executive
director. ``Their
position is they will not
accept a bad deal and if
they have to fight
they're willing to do
that.''
His words may be just
tough talk in the face of
the successful league
taking a more somber
approach. NBA
Commissioner David Stern
said the league sent a
letter to the union
Monday offering
proposals, but it didn't
get any response.
``We don't take great
pleasure in the
decision,'' Stern said.
``Although it's better
than losing, it doesn't
take us where we want to
be, which is to have a
deal with our players.
This should be a signal
for both sides to return
to the (bargaining) table
Tuesday.''
That's because, as
Stern's deputy, Russ
Granik, pointed out,
``We're missing games,
we're losing our season.
That should put pressure
on both sides.''
The league is expected to
cancel the rest of
November's games sometime
next week.
The arbitrator's decision
is an obvious boost for
the league's position
because some owners,
though publicly behind
Stern's negotiating plan,
had been saying privately
they couldn't risk having
to pay players without
getting any gate receipts
in return.
Now Stern can take a
stronger position, though
several agents, who work
closely with the union,
are recommending
decertification and a
subsequent court fight.
Decertification would
mean the NBA couldn't
broker a deal with anyone
representing the players,
who would negotiate
individually. This is a
path some union
hardliners sought in
1995, but the majority of
players voted it down.
With the hawks now
running the union, an
ego-driven death fight
could be at hand if the
players are willing to go
along.
In light of the owners'
victory, Stern may decide
to offer some form of
olive branch to allow
union officials to save
face and accept a deal.
Without that, it's
possible the entire
season could be canceled.
``The players will not
back down,'' Hunter
insisted. ``What the
owners don't realize is
if we continue to
antagonize the fans and
they get tired of this
and decide to stay away,
the long-term losses may
be much more severe. No
one wants to kill the
goose that laid the
golden egg.''
Both sides have much to
lose. Owners have seen
their investments in
their teams increase by
tens of millions of
dollars; players have
seen their salaries rise
almost 1,000 percent
since a salary cap first
was instituted in the
early 1980s. NBA players
have become the highest
paid in team sports.
In 1995, there was a
brief summer lockout as a
labor agreemnent was
being negotiated. That
agreement allowed the
owners to reopen the then
six-year deal after three
years if the players'
share of the agreed-upon
league revenues rose
above 51.8 percent.
The league said the
players' share in
salaries was 57 percent
last season, and it
sought to negotiate a new
deal the puts a ceiling
on huge salaries.
The players' union,
meanwhile, said players
under contract should be
paid and the issue went
to arbitrator Feerick,
dean of the Fordham
University law school.
The NBA tried went to bar
Feerick, who ruled
against the league in
cases involving Latrell
Sprewell and Chris Dudley
in the last year, but
lost.
Because of the magnitude
of the case involving
salaries to 226 players,
little serious
negotiating took place as
both sides waited for
Feerick's decision. His
ruling generally accepted
the labor law provision
that employers are not
responsible for wages if
they locked out workers
in a labor dispute.
The union said it would
not appeal.
But the games are getting
dangerously close to
being over.