NEW YORK (AP) — Two weeks of NBA games are lost.
Many more could be in jeopardy.
There's a "gulf" that separates owners
and players, and they will have to close it quickly to avoid further damage to
the schedule.
Sticking to his deadline, Commissioner David Stern
wiped out the first two weeks of the season — exactly 100 games — after more
than seven hours of negotiations Monday failed to produce a new labor deal and
preserve the Nov. 1 season openers.
The cancellations mark the NBA's first work
stoppage since the 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games.
Clashing more over the salary cap system than
economics — but still far apart on both — Stern said the sides are "very
far apart on virtually all issues. ... We just have a gulf that separates us.
"With every day that goes by, I think we need
to look at further reductions in what's left of the season," he added.
Stern said last week that he would cancel the first
two weeks of the season Monday without a new collective bargaining agreement to
end the lockout. The two sides expect to remain in contact, but no additional
formal talks have been scheduled.
Stern said he was "sorry" and
"sad" to report the cancellations.
"We certainly hoped it would never come to
this," he said. "I think that both sides worked hard to get to a
better solution. We think that we made very fair proposals. I'm sure the
players think the same thing. But the gap is so significant that we just can't
bridge it at this time."
Union president Derek Fisher agreed, emphasizing
that missing any games puts the season in jeopardy. He also stressed this was a
lockout, not a strike, and that it was the owners' decision not to be playing
basketball.
"This is not where we choose to be," he
said. "We're not at a place where a fair deal can be reached with the
NBA."
The cancellation includes all games scheduled to be
played through Nov. 14, and affected arenas have been authorized to release
those dates.
Based on last year's average announced attendance
leaguewide (just over 17,300 per game) and the average ticket cost last season,
those now-canceled 100 games represent nearly $83 million in lost ticket sales
— before the first concession or souvenir is sold and before the first car pays
to park.
Season-ticket holders, however, get refunds, plus
interest, for all canceled games.
Though disappointing to both sides and especially
to fans, the result isn't a complete surprise. The union had warned players for
years to save their money, knowing a work stoppage seemed likely, and executive
director Billy Hunter repeated that players won't cave once they start missing
pay checks next month.
"I think it goes back to a comment that David
made to me several years ago when he said, 'Look, this is what my owners have
to have.' And I said, 'The only way you're going to get that is if you're
prepared to lock us out for a year or two, and (this) indicated to me that
they're willing to do it," Hunter said. "So my belief, my contention
is that everything he's done has kind of demonstrated that he's following that
script."
With another work stoppage, the NBA risks
alienating a fan base that sent the league's revenues and TV ratings soaring
during the 2010-11 season. And the cost of cancellations would be staggering.
Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said the league would lose hundreds of millions
of dollars; Hunter estimated players' losses at $350 million for each month
they were locked out.
Now ushers, security personnel, parking lot
attendants, concession workers, restaurant employees and others all stand to
have their hours cut or join the country's 14 million unemployed. A few teams
also have either trimmed their staffs or instituted sharp pay cuts — some did
that as the lockout began — and more layoffs could be forthcoming.
Hunter said he didn't think the full season was at
risk yet and stressed it would be a mistake for the NBA to chance it coming off
a season when revenues and TV ratings soared.
For the second straight day the sides focused on
system issues instead of the division of revenues. Stern rattled off
concessions the league had made there, allowing guaranteed contracts, not
rolling back salaries and giving players an option to shorten the deal.
Players say they moved there, too, offering to
reduce the value of the midlevel exception to $5 million for a maximum of four
years, and reducing contract lengths to five years for players re-signing with
their own teams to four years for changing teams. The league wants those,
currently six and five, down to four and three.
Insisting it needs a system that allows all teams
to compete no matter the market size, Stern and Silver said the sides are still
apart on annual raises for players and the luxury tax for teams. Players
counter that the league's idea of making the luxury tax more severe would have
acted as a hard cap, scaring too many teams from spending above the cap level.
"We're surprised that's what still separates
us," Silver said. "We would think that the players in this league
would also want a system in which players on every team, if they play for well
imagined teams, are on equal footing. I think it'll create a better game, and
we think it'll create hope for more fans in more communities and it'll
ultimately lead to more interest in our game."
Stern said the players still proposed they get 53
percent of revenues, whereas the league proposed they get 47 percent. The two
sides had discussed a 50-50 split last week, but only in informal discussions,
and given each BRI point was worth roughly $40 million last season, the gap
between 3 points and 6 points is about $120 million in the first year of a
deal.
Meeting Monday were: Stern; Silver; owners Peter
Holt of San Antonio, Glen Taylor of Minnesota and James Dolan of New York;
senior vice president and deputy general counsel Dan Rube; plus Hunter; Fisher
of the Lakers and vice president Maurice Evans of the Wizards; and attorneys
Jeffrey Kessler and Ron Klempner.
Players reacted quickly — and in some cases,
strongly — on Twitter within minutes of the cancelations being announced.
Miami guard Dwyane Wade said the situation
"just got real" after he learned the first two weeks are now gone,
then lashed out at Stern's comments in a second post by saying they hurt
employees at arenas around the league, other businesses that thrive off NBA
business and the league's fans in general.
Minnesota rookie-to-be Derrick Williams, the No. 2
pick in this year's draft, tweeted that going overseas may now be an option for
him.
The success of last season — on the court, at the
box office and in the headlines — convinced many that the sides would never
reach this stalemate.
But small-market owners were hardened after
watching LeBron James leave Cleveland for Miami, Amare Stoudemire bolt Phoenix
for New York, and Carmelo Anthony later use his impending free agency as leverage
to secure a trade from Denver to the Knicks. They wanted changes that would
allow them to hold onto their superstars and compete for titles with the
big-spending teams from Los Angeles, Boston and Dallas who have gobbled up the
last four championships.
As the lockout drags on, Stern's legacy as one of
sports' best commissioners is weakened. He turned 69 last month, and although
he hasn't said when he will retire, he did say this will be his last CBA
negotiation after nearly 28 years running the league.
He has insisted all along he wouldn't worry about
the damage to his reputation and that his only concern would be getting the
deal his owners need.
It's uncertain when that will be.
The sides didn't agree until Jan. 6 in 1999, just
before the deadline for canceling that entire season. The league ended up with
a 50-game schedule, often plagued by poor play as teams were forced to fit too
many games into too small of a window.
They could keep meeting now and agree to a deal
much sooner this time. Or perhaps the divide is still too great and they will
decide there's no reason to rush back to the table.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/David Karp)
