NBA Sticking Points
NBA Talks Continue Beyond Midnight
NY Times
October 26, 2011
In the past twenty days, the NBA and the players have met eight times for a total of fifty-eight hours. The federal mediator withdrew from the process after six days of talks and the negotiations continued to have some ups and downs with multiple attempts at reaching an agreement—all ending in failure. Two issues continue to be a problem: the division of revenue and controls on team payrolls.
The league proposes a 50-50 split of basketball-related income which is a significant reduction from the 57 percent the players were earning. The players have been asking for 52 percent in recent talks. The controls on team payrolls are also a sticking point: “The sides are also battling over proposals to slow payroll growth, especially among the richest teams. The owners want a more punitive luxury tax and several other restrictions on teams that pay the tax. The union is open to modest changes, as long as they do not inhibit player movement.”
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