ElNono
07-14-2011, 04:42 PM
Union Leaders Give Players Support to Play Overseas
If the locked-out N.B.A. players choose to take their talents overseas, they will do so with the spirited support of their union’s leadership.
In a letter sent to 450 players this week, Billy Hunter, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, said that playing abroad would keep the pressure on owners while allowing union members to continue making a living.
“This lockout is intended to economically pressure our players to agree to an unfavorable collective bargaining agreement,” Hunter said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “It is important for owners to understand that there may be significant consequences to their decision to put their own players in these difficult economic circumstances.”
Hunter said, “If the owners will not give our players a forum in which to play basketball here in the United States, they risk losing the greatest players in the world to the international basketball federations that are more than willing to employ them.”
Keep Reading (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/sports/basketball/union-leaders-give-players-support-to-play-overseas.html?hpw)
If the locked-out N.B.A. players choose to take their talents overseas, they will do so with the spirited support of their union’s leadership.
In a letter sent to 450 players this week, Billy Hunter, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, said that playing abroad would keep the pressure on owners while allowing union members to continue making a living.
“This lockout is intended to economically pressure our players to agree to an unfavorable collective bargaining agreement,” Hunter said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “It is important for owners to understand that there may be significant consequences to their decision to put their own players in these difficult economic circumstances.”
Hunter said, “If the owners will not give our players a forum in which to play basketball here in the United States, they risk losing the greatest players in the world to the international basketball federations that are more than willing to employ them.”
Keep Reading (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/sports/basketball/union-leaders-give-players-support-to-play-overseas.html?hpw)