KoriEllis
09-23-2004, 05:14 AM
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
NBA referees will meet in Chicago on Friday to decide whether to accept or reject the league's latest contract proposal, league sources told ESPN.com, amid renewed optimism that an agreement is not far off.
Every member of the referees' union was mailed a detailed breakdown Wednesday of the NBA's offer. Sources on both sides indicated late Wednesday that they now expect a deal by the weekend, after a collapse in talks last week.
"It's close," said one source with knowledge of the talks.
Lamell McMorris, the referees' lead negotiator, said in response Wednesday night: "I would say we're close, but not there. There's no doubt that things are looking better. The fact that we have an agreement in hand to study and have a vote [scheduled] are signals that things are better. But we won't know for sure until Friday."
McMorris and a spokesman for the league both declined to reveal specifics of any revisions the NBA made to Wednesday's mailing. If the referees decide in Chicago to refuse this proposal, NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik will move ahead with his announced plans to hire replacement officials.
The referees are due to convene for training camp on Oct. 1, with the NBA's exhibition season starting Oct. 10. Granik has acknowledged that the league is already making "contingency plans" in case the sides drift apart again.
With a deal seemingly imminent, negotiations dissolved when the referees accused the league of adding a handful of 11th-hour clauses to the contract. Among them is a stipulation that the league office can fine the referees' union $1 million and any individual referee $50,000 for "disruptions during the game."
That's the NBA's response to a protest last season when several referees turned their jerseys inside-out and scrawled No. 62 on the backs in support of colleague Michael Henderson, whose error in a Lakers-Nuggets game -- helping L.A. to a one-point victory -- was publicly acknowledged by the league.
ESPN.com
NBA referees will meet in Chicago on Friday to decide whether to accept or reject the league's latest contract proposal, league sources told ESPN.com, amid renewed optimism that an agreement is not far off.
Every member of the referees' union was mailed a detailed breakdown Wednesday of the NBA's offer. Sources on both sides indicated late Wednesday that they now expect a deal by the weekend, after a collapse in talks last week.
"It's close," said one source with knowledge of the talks.
Lamell McMorris, the referees' lead negotiator, said in response Wednesday night: "I would say we're close, but not there. There's no doubt that things are looking better. The fact that we have an agreement in hand to study and have a vote [scheduled] are signals that things are better. But we won't know for sure until Friday."
McMorris and a spokesman for the league both declined to reveal specifics of any revisions the NBA made to Wednesday's mailing. If the referees decide in Chicago to refuse this proposal, NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik will move ahead with his announced plans to hire replacement officials.
The referees are due to convene for training camp on Oct. 1, with the NBA's exhibition season starting Oct. 10. Granik has acknowledged that the league is already making "contingency plans" in case the sides drift apart again.
With a deal seemingly imminent, negotiations dissolved when the referees accused the league of adding a handful of 11th-hour clauses to the contract. Among them is a stipulation that the league office can fine the referees' union $1 million and any individual referee $50,000 for "disruptions during the game."
That's the NBA's response to a protest last season when several referees turned their jerseys inside-out and scrawled No. 62 on the backs in support of colleague Michael Henderson, whose error in a Lakers-Nuggets game -- helping L.A. to a one-point victory -- was publicly acknowledged by the league.