NEW YORK — NBA labor talks have broken off over what was always the most contentious issue — the split of revenues.
And commissioner David Stern is now saying there will not an 82-game schedule “under any circumstances.”
Union director Billy Hunter said the players did not move off their offer of 52.5 percent of revenues, and he said the owners had taken their 50-50 proposal off the table and are now back to offering 47 percent — an assertion that Stern disputed.
“I don’t ever say ‘best and final,'” Stern said. “But our next offer will reflct the extraordinary losses that we are absorbing now.”
Hunter also said Stern “snookered” people by saying he was coming to Friday’s meeting prepared to negotiate on all issues.
“We did what [Stern] said [he] needed and it was like their eyes got bigger. They just wanted more and more,” Hunter said.
According to Hunter, during the negotiating session Stern listed five system items on the board that the sides needed to resolve, and the discussion then moved to the split of revenues.
Hunter said as long as those five issues remained unresolved — most of them had to do with restrictions on teams that surpass the luxury tax threshold, such as a prohibition against signing mid-level free agents — the players were not willing to move off their number, 52.5 percent of basketball related income, after making numerous concessions.
That pretty much ended the meeting after the sides had spent roughly 6 1/2 hours together, and the union exited the hotel shortly after 5:30 p.m. EDT saying no further talks were scheduled. The league has cancelled all games through Nov. 30.
“Billy said the players were not willing to go a penny lower than 52 percent , he had been getting a lot of calls from agents, and he picked up his book and walked out of the room,” Stern said.
So… is this the sort of thing where I’m just gonna have to say “fuck it” and check back five years from now and see if basketball is still being played?
I’ll pay attention as long as there’s something fun about it and all the speeches from Stern have come pretty close to ruining following the NBA for me for awhile.
Stern may think he’s all clever when he’s jerking around the player’s union by pretending he’s showing up to negotiate “on all issues” and then hardlines it, but he’s really jerking folks like me around, too.
If caring about the NBA means having a jackass like that in charge, he and business pals are really wearing out their welcome. At some point, it’s a matter of principle for fans, too.
I guess Hunter was right. The owners are prepared to shit can the season and have been for the last two years. Can’t wait to get my refund for games missed or for the whole season.
hey stern, go suck a dyke! you’re killing your legacy, killing the short term prospects of the league, killing the large momentum building off a great season, killing the likeability of your players, and for what? for the sake of the worst owners in the league? nice!
I’m pretty sure you can write “dick” here. It’s not ESPN – no filter that I’ve run into yet. Not saying “go nuts!” just weird when you obviously mean dick and subbed in a “y.”
i know you’re just trying to demean stern, but why talk down to the lovely people who are nice enough to put the ol’ 110% to giving quality blowjobs? Why demean their hard work and dedication by associating those lovely people with David Stern’s shit-eating grin? .
Love it. These guys literally have no idea what a media disaster they are putting their sport through. At least they feel apart again on a Friday (as any PR person will tell you, always the best day for bad news).