Resuming CBA talks

[Birn]

Birn, your 'one-year contracts' is silly and completely beside the point. No one in their right mind would consider it, least of all the owners, who want longer-term certainty. The players, who have families they'd have to move, would hate it. The fans, who like to follow their favorite players, would hate it. The local businesses, who like to hire these athletes for endorsements, would hate it.

It's an utterly daft idea and hopefully you'll stop flogging it.

I agree with you. Read my post again and notice where I clearly state that it is not realistic and will never happen. Feel free to bold it and highlight it if you wish. My point is that the players keep harping that they just want the free market to work for them when they have no clue what a free market really is. They're demanding a lot of guarantees and protections which are fine but in order to get those things they need to realize they have to give up some of the potential rewards that a free market offers.

If you want to see our Spurs play ball this year you need to hope the mediator finally convinces the players they will never see anything close to 53% of BRI. As long as the players show they're willing to negotiate, the owners will keep negotiating so the deal can get done. I would expect to see the new deal start at 53% in year 1 with a sliding scale that eventually reduces the BRI to an even 50/50 split after about 4 years. If the players don't accept something like that then they are even more stupid and selfish than I first thought.

Greedy Bas s!! Sign the deal and play some ball!!!

[Mark in Austin]

I'm still trying to figure out how the players are the greedy ones when they've already agreed to a billion dollars in salary reductions.

[ElNono]

I'm still trying to figure out how the players are the greedy ones when they've already agreed to a billion dollars in salary reductions.

Yeah, and the issue is far from just the BRI split. IIRC, the players also agreed to cut one year from both Bird and non-Bird contracts, but owners want to chop two... those greedy players!

[Birn]

I'm still trying to figure out how the players are the greedy ones when they've already agreed to a billion dollars in salary reductions.

The problem with your logic is there won't be a billion dollars to give back if we continue with the current system. The league will have to contract by about 7-10 teams and about 150 players will be out of work. If the players union really wants to protect the interests of all its members then it would accept a deal that ensures the long term viability for the whole league. The truth is the players association is only looking after the star players who earn the big money deals.

[DJ Mbenga]

stern was on that new cnn show with erin burnett. mostly a useless interview, you could tell she knew nothing about the nba, as evidenced by calling it a strike. i think the only thing work noting was stern said revenue was smaller than expected, yet since its based on percentage the nba had to send a check to the NBPA. other than that he looked to have this angry smirk or something when he mentioned the mediator. its not going to be a good day tomorrow in my view.

[ElNono]

other than that he looked to have this angry smirk or something when he mentioned the mediator. its not going to be a good day tomorrow in my view.

IMO, Stern wants nothing to do with external interference...

[Mel_13]

The problem with your logic is there won't be a billion dollars to give back if we continue with the current system. The league will have to contract by about 7-10 teams and about 150 players will be out of work.

Any basis for that assertion?

If the players union really wants to protect the interests of all its members then it would accept a deal that ensures the long term viability for the whole league.

The players would contend that they have already made an offer that accomplishes that objective

The truth is the players association is only looking after the star players who earn the big money deals.

If you believe that, then you haven't paid attention to the changes made in the 1999 and 2005 CBAs.

[Mr. Body]

stern was on that new cnn show with erin burnett. mostly a useless interview, you could tell she knew nothing about the nba, as evidenced by calling it a strike.

CNN and Erin Burnett in particular normally side heavily with ownership in most every case, never labor, so it's not surprising she would call it a strike.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I agree the current system in no way resembles a "free" market. However, it is both the owners and the players that don't want a purely free market. Each side wants protections and guarantees that strip away all the risks that come with a free marketplace. My position is simple - players are given 1 year non-guaranteed deals with no salary cap limitations. Owners are then free to spend as much or as little as they're willing to spend. This is not realistic and will never be considered but nobody should ever try to argue that the players only want the free market to work. That's all BS...they want nothing close to a free market...they want guarantees and protections. If the players want those guarantees then they have to be prepared to give up some of the rewards that come with a free market. If the players truly understood the concept of a free market, they would make more money than they ever imagined. Same with the owners. Reason is because both sides are always accountable to perform at the highest levels. This makes better players and better teams to put on the floor to sell tickets and TV advertising.

That is not the case either. Sports franchises have never been a free market from the get go. The NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL colluded from the word go. Free market exists over in Europe where a football player can go from Barcelona to Chelsea with no club interference by collusion. They don't draft. They just play the game.

I can certainly understand not wanting a compe ive disparity like you see there but the clubs and players there make gobs of cash. The ones that can survive that is.

What percentage of revenues do you think that they would have gotten had there been no artificial ceiling? They were at 57% with price controls. i would put the over/under at 65%. 8 points is just imaginary but the trend would be upwards. Mark Cuban and Paul Allen like to pay out to some ducats.

All you are wanting is to fix the market MORE in the owners favor. If you care about small market franchises then revenue sharing and national TV contracts are the way to go. 4 points do not matter so much when you're compe ors can still pay out 25% or more.

[Dex]

So how long before the mediator comes out and says, "After extensive discussions, I've determined that they are far apart on virtually all issues"?

[Bruno]

So how long before the mediator comes out and says, "After extensive discussions, I've determined that they are far apart on virtually all issues"?

Right now, they have been talking for 6 hours so results of this meeting should come soon.

[Dex]

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
Wish I could do better than this, but....meeting with federal mediator, NBA and NBPA has now passed six hours in New York

[Duncan2177]

Them meeting for six hours and counting is hopefully a good sign.

[baseline bum]

So how long before the mediator comes out and says, "After extensive discussions, I've determined that they are far apart on virtually all issues"?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Right now, they have been talking for 6 hours so results of this meeting should come soon.

Unfortunately the 'results' will be from the vantage point of the partisans. i would be shocked if the mediator or his office spoke publicly.

More media posturing does not give insight as to what is really going on.

[Dex]

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
Source in labor talks tells Y!: "My gut is progress will be made but not sure to what degree...(meeting) going to go well into night."
2 minutes ago

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
NBA-NBPA labor meeting with federal mediator lurching toward nine hours here in New York. It isn't expected to end soon.
31 minutes ago

[Dex]

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
Dinner just arrived for the league and union officials, and talks push into a 12th hour in New York
14 minutes ago

Easily the longest meeting between the two sides since this whole thing started. Will anything come of it? Only time will tell.

I sincerely doubt they will come out popping champagne bottles or anything. The best we can probably hope to hear tonight is that talks will be continued tomorrow or in the near future, but even that would be a far cry from the "we haven't fixed " reports that we've been getting from all of their past debates.

[timtonymanu]

Wow! How much longer until we hear "We're very, very far apart on virtually all issues, " or Broussard saying "So and so just got out of the meeting. Doesn't look too good."

[ElNono]

Mediator: "Both teams played hard"

[Dex]

Mediator: "Both teams played hard"

[ElNono]

Mediator: "Owners read Birn's posts, and are waiting for players to bend over"

[Dex]

Meanwhile, Blair's twitter has gone all-out middle school mode:

DeJuan45 DeJuan Blair
The thing that hurts the most is pretending that it doesn't.
33 minutes ago

DeJuan45 DeJuan Blair
Im not like the others..
28 minutes ago

DeJuan45 DeJuan Blair
It's hard to forget someone who gave you so much to remember.
34 minutes ago

[ElNono]

Hope he's not depressed and near a Whataburger... FML

[Pistons < Spurs]

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
Meeting is ending now.

[Pistons < Spurs]

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
Wait. "False alarm," official says. Meeting isn't over.