The NBA owners seem fairly certain they can break the players. A meeting scheduled for Monday- in advance of David Stern’s deadline to cancel the first two weeks of the season- has now been canceled. The owners demanded that any session include agreement on a 50-50 revenue split. When the Union rejected that idea, the owners said there was no reason to meet.
Union rep Billy Hunter will instead fly to Miami to meet with players (the Miami Heat’s “Big 3” are having a charity game there Saturday) and then follow that up with another players meeting in L.A. on Monday (which follows the rematch between the Drew League and the Goodman League.)
The owners obviously still feel that missing a check will change the union’s tune and convince them to take the offer made late last Tuesday. At this point, it appears the union is the only side interested in actual negotiating. It says a lot to me as a fan that the owners don’t want to have conversations until they feel they’ll have the upper hand. To go back in saying this is the deal we want is fine, but to not meet because the union doesn’t want to agree to that term DURING the negotiating process seems wrong.
Initially, in the proposed deal, NBA players would actually receive around 44%- 46% of the gross revenue. Remember the 50-50 split the owners are referring too doesn’t include all revenue. The owners were asking to take off $350 million in expenses off the top for its arena maintenance costs, growing endeavors such as NBA China and other deductions, meaning the actual split would be lower. NFL players for example, receive 46% of it’s league’s gross revenue.
Each BRI percentage point represents $40 million dollars. Right now the sides are around $120 million apart in the first year of a deal. The union is asking for 53 percent and the owners are seeking the 50-50 split.
