Hang on, fella’s, I think we are headed for an NBA lockout! The goal, of course, is to get the collective bargaining talks headed in a direction most advantageous to the league, and taking the heat off the head office to make some meaningful budgetary changes that are long overdue. The expiration of the current Collective
Bargaining Agreement on June 30th, is just the leverage Stern will use to push his agenda through, without regard to the casualties.
You likely know that the league has been pushing for a hard salary cap and non-guaranteed contracts for years, claiming that teams are losing millions of dollars, and the NBA as a whole losing $300 million. The league is trying to change the revenue sharing agreements, where currently the players are receiving 57% of the revenue. Currently, though, the NBA backed off seeking the elimination of non-guaranteed contracts.
Instead of Stern making a solid effort to cut erroneous expenses in order to balance his budget, he is pushing for changes on the backs of the players and the fans. People willing to shell out big bucks to watch games will likely be seeing shorter seasons, or the NBA has even threatened to contract, or eliminate, teams in smaller markets. Instead of Stern throwing out an olive branch, and lowering salaries modestly across the board, including his own, he is using threats against the players to strong-arm the changes. His tactics are barbaric.
Absent an extension to the CBA, or a meeting of the minds, the team’s operations are likely to shut down on July 1, 2011. The league will send players into panic mode as each day passes, and the start of the regular season approaches. Stern will direct the message to the players through the media, using tools like ESPN’s Henry Abbott, Stern’s messenger. You will most certainly hear the following words very soon: “This is my final offer.”
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