N.B.A. Cancels First 2 Weeks Of Play
Day 102 of the NBA’s lockout ended in an announcement by the commissioner of the league that the first two weeks of the season will not happen.
David Stern delivered the bad news last night and for the basketball fans that don’t understand what this is all about, it has to deal with $4 billion in league revenues, and the entire system of rules that govern team payrolls and player salaries.
The Players want more of the share and they aren’t budging. There have been 12 bargaining sessions in the last 34 days but the two sides are not getting any closer to resolving the issues. This will be the first shortened season since the 1998-1999 season which was only 50 games.
The beef comes in the form of the salary cap, the luxury tax, lengths of contracts, annual raises, and the owners are citing an increasing competitive gap between big-market and small-market franchises and they want extensive new controls on team payrolls.
This means the owners are banning together to get more money for teams that aren’t in big markets, shorten contracts for players and place salary caps on teams.
“We probably need to miss a few games in order for them to be convinced that there is resolve among the players,” said Billy Hunter, the executive director of the players union. “While we don’t want to be out here, our players are not going to fall apart. We’ve spent two and a half years getting them ready. This is the worst-case scenario.”
Who do you think should give in first?
