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NY Times: Players May Boycott NBC
October 30, 1998
NBC May Face Boycott by Players After Lockout Ends
By MIKE WISE
hen a reporter from the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas
asked Chuck Person if he could have a few minutes
last week, the San Antonio Spurs forward shook his head
and declined. Several other National Basketball
Association players soon followed his lead. Walking
away they muttered, "We're not going to do NBC."
On the surface, saying no to one of the broadcast
outlets that has helped line the coffers of the NBA for
the past decade -- a network that has helped make the
players incredibly famous and wealthy -- did not seem
like prudent business. But in what can be construed as
either sincere animosity or merely a labor bargaining
ploy, dozens of the league's players have said they are
weighing the possibility of a network boycott.
Labeling NBC and the Turner Sports cable network as
"co-conspirators" in the current lockout, the union
equates the approximately $475 million in guaranteed
television rights fees that will be paid to the NBA
this season -- regardless of whether games are played
-- as giving the owners more clout in their economic
fight with the players. It has elicited talk from the
players of penalizing the two networks by not doing
interviews both during and after the current labor
impasse.
Patrick Ewing, the union president, said that the
players, "to a man," were angry that NBC and Turner
Sports "have taken the active role that they have in
promoting this lockout."
"When all is said and done," Ewing added, "this lockout
will have cost the players a lot of money, and NBC's
role will not be forgotten."
Said Billy Hunter, the union executive director, "We're
not going to do anything that would be negligent or
detrimental to the overall success of the league, but
our players are not looking very favorably" on NBC and
Turner Sports.
"A lot of players have actually stated that they're not
going to do interviews with either network," Hunter
said.
The consequences for a network boycott could be costly,
resulting in huge fines for players who refused
interviews. The owners and union are still negotiating
player-conduct issues, some of which entail how much
players should be docked for failing to make themselves
available for mandatory news media sessions.
At any rate, it is one thing for the league and players
to brood about lost games and lost paychecks in a
lockout that has already led to the cancellation of the
first month of the regular season. But that NBC and
Turner Sports -- which shows games on TBS and TNT --
could emerge as the next casualties of the
four-month-old stalemate left NBA Commissioner David
Stern befuddled.
"These are outlets that provide interviews, that
provide studio jobs for our players, that do additional
shows and that provide new careers for them," Stern
said Thursday. "If anything, they are the most
responsible for the growth of this sport and the
success of the sport and the salaries that our players
earn."
He added, "I'm comfortable that when we make the deal,
reality will be reaffirmed."
The new four-year deal between the league, NBC and
Turner Sports was announced last fall, a total $2.6
billion package that was awarded without competitive
bidding. While the contract provided for work-stoppage
protection for the league, the networks did include
clauses to recoup the losses incurred in paying for
games that might not be played. In NBC's case, the
compensation will be either a rebate or reduced rights
fees in the final three years of the deal. Turner
Sports will be given extra games to broadcast.
Privately, league officials believe the players are
trying to pull the networks into the fray in order that
NBC and Turner Sports might exert pressure on the
owners to cut a deal and get the season started. During
a news conference in Manhattan on Wednesday, Hunter
alluded to NBC's recent layoffs.
"One of the things you also have to look at is what's
happening with NBC," Hunter said. "NBC is one of the
networks that has underwritten the latest TV deal,
which in a way helps finance the lockout. I read the
papers every day, and I saw that NBC is experiencing
some rather significant problems themselves. I don't
think NBC and TNT will stand by and let there not be a
season. I don't think I can close my eyes to that."
The union believes that the approximately $16 million
in guaranteed revenue for each of the 29 teams this
season has essentially amounted to a savings account
for owners. And Hunter singled out the lack of
competitive bidding on the contract, saying: "David's
position has always been because NBC has been with the
NBA for so long, they've become like a family. They've
helped insure the success of the league. So he's
inclined to enter into some agreeable arrangement with
them."
Hunter continued: "Had the TV contract not been
structured the way it is, it would have made it a lot
more difficult for the NBA to load up. If they're sure
they're going to be paid, the economic impact on the
owners is not as severe."
NBC's first scheduled television date this season is a
Christmas Day game between the Knicks and the Chicago
Bulls, part of an NBA doubleheader. TNT and TBS
televise on Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays of each week
during the regular season.
Dick Ebersol, the president of NBC sports, declined
comment on the union's statements. Greg Hughes, the
vice president of public relations for Turner Sports,
said the cable network was not taking sides in the
dispute, regardless of the way the deal was structured.
"There have been clauses for work stoppages in our
deals with the NBA for the past 15 years, so this one
is no different," Hughes said. "We're not taking sides
throughout the whole process. We have been partners
with the league and with the players. We hope the
players wouldn't hold the contract against us."
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company