Tuesday, October 20, 1998
Decisions, Decisions
Pro basketball: Arbitrator strengthens NBA owners' position by
ruling they don't pay guaranteed contracts during lockout.
By MARK HEISLER, Times Staff Writer
[T]he question of who has the
leverage has been settled.
Arbitrator John Feerick's
long-awaited decision came
down Monday, ruling that NBA
players with guaranteed
contracts will not be paid
during the lockout,
strengthening the owners'
hand. .
In what amounted to a
daring end run around
management's dug-in defense,
the National Basketball
Players Assn. had asserted
that 226 players, with
contracts worth more than $700
million, must be paid.
In what amounted to
getting stood up at the line
of scrimmage, the union's
argument was rejected by
Feerick. The players, who will
not be paid, must now bargain
with owners.
Nevertheless, the players
are conceding nothing. NBPA
executive director Billy
Hunter turned down a league
invitation to reconvene,
citing this week's union
meeting in Las Vegas that even
Michael Jordan, who has never
been much of a trade unionist
but is an avid golfer and
gambler, has said he'll
attend.
Hunter demanded the
owners lift the lockout and,
ominously, refused comment on
calls by hard-line player
agents that the union
decertify, file an antitrust
suit and abandon the season.
"The owners have locked
us out," said Hunter in a
telephone news conference.
"They're not paying salaries,
they're forcing us to fight to
get a fair deal. The players
will not back down. The sooner
the owners realize this and
end this lockout, the better
chance we will have of
avoiding enormous damage to
the sport of professional
basketball."
"What the owners are not
realizing is that if they
continue to antagonize the
fans in the way they're doing,
the fact that the players may
be forced to miss a few
paychecks may be the least of
our worries."
Commissioner David Stern,
who has called off the first
two weeks of the season, all
but announced in his telephone
news conference he'll cancel
the rest of the November games
at an owners' meeting next
week, calling the decision
"inevitable."
If the players won't
admit they're anxious, the
league will. Stern said before
Feerick's decision was
announced, he sent the union a
letter offering three
proposals, including an
NFL-style hard cap, along with
a guarantee that salaries
would increase at least 20%
over the term of the contract.
Hunter replied that
negotiations could resume
after the union meeting, which
ends Thursday.
Stern is upset the union
won't discuss an actual
percentage split, that it's
taking a cavalier approach
toward negotiations.
"I can tell you this
union leadership stymies us,"
said Stern, renewing charges
against Hunter and NBPA
counsel Jeff Kessler. "Russ
[Granik, deputy commissioner]
and I, for something over 50
years combined, we've been
able to negotiate with every
other combination of executive
directors and presidents in
the history of this union. And
lawyers. And somehow, we are
unable to have a conversation
that gets us any negotiation.
And frankly, today is
indicative of the situation .
. .
"This [decision] should
have been a signal to both
sides to return to the table
today, which is Monday. We
reached out prior to the
decision to make sure, no
matter what happened, it was
clear we wanted to negotiate .
. .
"The players don't seem
to realize they can't get that
money back. It's gone, gone
forever, and they seem to
think that's not the case."
Feerick's decision, at
least, lets everyone know
where they stand. The
arbitrator noted in his
82-page ruling that in the
past, the union never
contended that players with
guaranteed contracts were
entitled to be paid during a
lockout.
Had Feerick--who reduced
Latrell Sprewell's
league-imposed suspension
after the guard attacked
Golden State Warrior Coach
P.J. Carlesimo--ruled for the
players, things would have
changed. The owners would have
been looking at steep
obligations and no gate money
coming in. Laker owner Jerry
Buss, for example, has a $38
million payroll, owed to 11
players on guaranteed
contracts. Of that, $6 million
would have been due in
November.
Union leaders told
players they had nothing to
lose, since rejection would
only put them back where they
started, but that turned out
only to be true to a point.
The case ran longer, and
Feerick took more time to
write his decision, than
anyone expected, paralyzing
negotiations and running both
sides out of room to save
opening night.
To date, the league and
the union have held only four
sessions and done precious
little negotiating. The
players are already out 8.5%
of their
not-guaranteed-after-all
contracts and are about to
lose another 8.5% when more
games are canceled.
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles
Times. All Rights Reserved