lurker23
03-21-2009, 09:01 AM
Full text of two ESPN articles here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090321-22
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4003114
A few highlights:
On Feb. 18, Stern authorized the dispatch of a memo to all 30 teams projecting a drop in the salary cap from $58.7 million this season to $57.3 million in 2009-10 and a subsequent drop to $56.5 million in 2010-11, with a projected decline for the luxury-tax threshold as well: $71.2 million this season to $69.4 million in 2009-10 to $68.5 million in 2010-11.
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That's why, in recent weeks, you've heard more and more about teams quietly lobbying for a major reduction in contract lengths, lower maximum and minimum salaries, reductions in annual raises and the elimination of the annual mid-level cap exception that enables role players to receive five-year contracts in excess of $30 million ... while also giving big-market teams that are willing to pay luxury-tax penalties yet another spending outlet that small-market teams say they can't afford.
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NBA commissioner David Stern expressed cautious optimism this week that he can eventually broker a new labor agreement that pre-empts any threat of a work stoppage after the league's current deal with its players expires in June 2011, telling ESPN.com that he and NBA Players Association chief Billy Hunter will meet as early as May or June for "substantive" talks.
"Billy and I have agreed that we will sit down after my owners' meeting [in April], with fully fledged committees on both sides, and commence a very, very intense and open dialogue about our business and its model," Stern said.
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NBA owners have the right to extend the current collective bargaining agreement through the 2011-12 season, but are widely expected to reject that option either on or before the deadline of Dec. 15, 2010. There is growing dissatisfaction among many owners with issues such as contract lengths, average salary -- roughly $5.4 million -- and the 57-percent annual share of revenues guaranteed to the players during the most crippling worldwide economic slump in 80 years.
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Multiple players who wished not to be identified have told ESPN.com this season that Hunter, who typically meets face-to-face with each team on its first swing of the season through the New York area, has made some pessimistic projections of his own in those private meetings. The players said Hunter warned his constituents of the lockout threat early knowing that league owners reportedly want to implement a variety of aggressive changes to the cap system, such as shortening the lengths of guaranteed contracts, reducing year-to-year raises, slicing into the amount of guaranteed revenue players receive and lowering maximum and minimum salaries.
"I think it's going to be very, very extreme," Falk has said, "because I think that the times are extreme."
Without mentioning Falk by name, Stern respond to the notion of this "doomsday scenario" during a public appearance in nation's capital earlier this month by saying: "The predictions of the demise of the NBA were frequent and profound [over the years] and they've always been wrong."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090321-22
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4003114
A few highlights:
On Feb. 18, Stern authorized the dispatch of a memo to all 30 teams projecting a drop in the salary cap from $58.7 million this season to $57.3 million in 2009-10 and a subsequent drop to $56.5 million in 2010-11, with a projected decline for the luxury-tax threshold as well: $71.2 million this season to $69.4 million in 2009-10 to $68.5 million in 2010-11.
-----
That's why, in recent weeks, you've heard more and more about teams quietly lobbying for a major reduction in contract lengths, lower maximum and minimum salaries, reductions in annual raises and the elimination of the annual mid-level cap exception that enables role players to receive five-year contracts in excess of $30 million ... while also giving big-market teams that are willing to pay luxury-tax penalties yet another spending outlet that small-market teams say they can't afford.
-----
NBA commissioner David Stern expressed cautious optimism this week that he can eventually broker a new labor agreement that pre-empts any threat of a work stoppage after the league's current deal with its players expires in June 2011, telling ESPN.com that he and NBA Players Association chief Billy Hunter will meet as early as May or June for "substantive" talks.
"Billy and I have agreed that we will sit down after my owners' meeting [in April], with fully fledged committees on both sides, and commence a very, very intense and open dialogue about our business and its model," Stern said.
------
NBA owners have the right to extend the current collective bargaining agreement through the 2011-12 season, but are widely expected to reject that option either on or before the deadline of Dec. 15, 2010. There is growing dissatisfaction among many owners with issues such as contract lengths, average salary -- roughly $5.4 million -- and the 57-percent annual share of revenues guaranteed to the players during the most crippling worldwide economic slump in 80 years.
------
Multiple players who wished not to be identified have told ESPN.com this season that Hunter, who typically meets face-to-face with each team on its first swing of the season through the New York area, has made some pessimistic projections of his own in those private meetings. The players said Hunter warned his constituents of the lockout threat early knowing that league owners reportedly want to implement a variety of aggressive changes to the cap system, such as shortening the lengths of guaranteed contracts, reducing year-to-year raises, slicing into the amount of guaranteed revenue players receive and lowering maximum and minimum salaries.
"I think it's going to be very, very extreme," Falk has said, "because I think that the times are extreme."
Without mentioning Falk by name, Stern respond to the notion of this "doomsday scenario" during a public appearance in nation's capital earlier this month by saying: "The predictions of the demise of the NBA were frequent and profound [over the years] and they've always been wrong."