Even though there’s so much excitement and joy around the start of the NFL season being just 24 hours away, let’s shift our attention to more depressing topics like the NBA Lockout for a quick update.
The NBA labor talks concluded today after 5-1/2 hours in New York, and both sides agreed to resume negotiations on Thursday. This is a positive, considering it’s already the first week in September and still no agreements have been reached.
We can’t get too excited about Wednesday’s meeting especially since no details of substance have been released, but the positive that can be taken from this is that at least the two sides have agreed to meet tomorrow, which marks the first consecutive days of labor talks since the NBA locked out its players on July 1. So to the hardcore optimist, this is progress.
It’s coming down to the fourth quarter now on the NBA season. Training camp is supposed to begin in the beginning of October and the regular season is supposed to start November 1st. It’s a tall task ahead to reach an agreement. Basically, the NBA wants to change everything and they have a month to get the players to play along.
Even though NBA Players Association President Derek Fisher said there was a sense of urgency in the talks, it doesn’t look promising.
Both sides are still divided on how to distribute basketball revenue and the league claims that 23 of 30 teams lost money during the 2009-10 season.
Despite this, the NBA and its owners will be hard pressed to get the players to agree to a hard salary cap that would deeply reduce the pay of many role players.
