October 18, 2011
Marathon Talks Mark N.B.A. and Union Negotiations
By HOWARD BECK
Attempts to end the N.B.A. lockout resumed Tuesday under the auspices of a federal mediator, with the threat of more canceled games looming over a marathon negotiating session in Manhattan.
George Cohen, who last spring attempted to resolve the N.F.L. lockout — to little effect — brought N.B.A. and union leaders together again, in hopes of creating the foundation for a labor deal that has eluded them for two years. The meeting reached the 12-hour mark at 10 p.m.
If the meeting’s duration inspired some hope for fans, it also came with a large caution flag: the parties have had several lengthy bargaining sessions, some as long as seven and a half hours, without reaching an agreement. This is the first time, however, that the talks have been steered by an outside party.
The first two weeks of the 2011-12 season — 100 games scheduled between Nov. 1-14 — were canceled last week, when the last round of talks between owners and players broke down. More cancellations are expected soon in the absence of a deal.
The lockout reached its 110th day on Tuesday, the second longest in N.B.A. history.
Cohen arrived with impeccable credentials and the imprimatur of the federal government, but with no authority to compel an agreement. He was armed only with the powers of persuasion, and the ability to offer each party some cover to make a compromise.
But there had been no shortage of meetings, proposals, ideas and suggestions. By the time mediation began, N.B.A. and union leaders had logged 60-plus hours at the bargaining table over a six-week span. Yet they remained hundreds of millions apart, with an ever-widening rhetorical gulf.
Commissioner David Stern last week ominously hinted that the league’s Christmas games could be canceled if an agreement was not reached soon. Stern has been on a virtual media tour for the last several days, conducting interviews with nearly every major outlet, hammering the N.B.A.’s talking points in a furious effort to win the public’s support.
“It’s time to make the deal,” Stern said in an interview with WFAN last Thursday, referring to the mediation session. “If we don’t make it on Tuesday, my gut — this is not in my official capacity of canceling games — but my gut is that we won’t be playing on Christmas Day.”
Stern then implied that the entire season might be at risk.
Derek Fisher, the union president, fired back the next day, saying, “My gut tells me that there’s no way Commissioner Stern and the N.B.A. would damage their business by making us miss a whole season.”
Talks have been stalled on two primary issues: the division of revenue between owners and players and the structure of the league’s salary-cap system. Owners want to reduce the players’ share of revenues to as low as 47 percent, from the current 57 percent. The players have offered to reduce their share to 53 percent. The owners have dropped their demand for a hard salary cap but they remain determined to place severe new restrictions on the soft-cap system, which the players oppose.
Cohen briefly intervened in the N.F.L.’s labor standoff in March but had no discernible impact in the dispute, which did not end until late July, without his help.
Cohen has a small window to work with the N.B.A. parties this week. N.B.A. owners are scheduled for their annual fall meeting Wednesday and Thursday in Manhattan. The league has indicated the meetings will not be postponed.
Both sides brought their full negotiating committees on Tuesday. Twelve owners, all members of the N.B.A.’s labor-relations committee, joined Stern and the deputy commissioner Adam Silver. Eight players from the union’s executive board joined Fisher and Billy Hunter, the union’s executive director.
As the lockout dragged on, the N.B.A. approved the sale of the Philadelphia 76ers to a group led by Joshua Harris, a New York billionaire. The club sold for $280 million, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, considerably less than its $350 million value, as estimated by Forbes magazine. The sale price does not include the Wells Fargo Center, which remains under the ownership of Comcast-Spectacor, which purchased the 76ers for $130 million in 1996.
Harris and David Blitzer, another investor, will serve as co-managing owners. The ownership group also includes the rapper and actor Will Smith and his wife, the actress Jada Pinkett Smith.
