http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/12604/cba-negotiations-could-get-ugly CBA Negotiations Could Get Ugly In conversations with front-office executives Tuesday night, I was told some strong stuff regarding the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement. As you probably know, the current CBA will end after the 2010-2011 season. The gist of what I was told is that the owners will go for the jugular and drop the players’ salaries immensely. I spoke with one executive about Amare Stoudemire and was told that, the way owners are talking now, Stoudemire wouldn’t even get a five-year contract worth $60 million under the next CBA. That sounded crazy to me, but when I spoke with a team owner an hour later, he made the executive sound tame. “The owners are really going to chop the money down,’’ the owner said. “I think Stoudemire would get $5 or $6 million [annually] in the next deal. The bottom line is that things are going to change dramatically.’’ Five to six million dollars for a five-time All-Star in his prime? That sounds cruel compared with the players’ current salaries, so cruel that I just don’t believe it. A general manager I spoke with later agreed that that was an extreme. “That [$5 million for Stoudemire] sounds a little bizarre, but player salaries are definitely going to take a hit,’’ the GM said. “Players that come up for contracts under the new CBA are going to find themselves getting a lot less money.’’ It’s well-known that owners will try to shorten contracts. Currently, players can sign contracts as long as six years. One GM told me the owners are looking to shorten the maximum length of a contract to four or five years. He added that they have actually discussed trying to guarantee only the first two years of a four-year deal, and that the third and fourth years would be guaranteed only if a player reached certain performance-based incentives the previous season. In other words, it would be closer to the NFL than to today’s NBA. “Those concepts are being discussed,’’ another GM told me. “Is there a sentiment among some [owners] that they’d like to have it like football? Yeah. But I think that’s out of bounds.’’ Severe drops in salary. Non-guaranteed contracts. Billy Hunter, the Executive Director of the Players Association, will not settle for that without a fight, and the owners know it. “There’s going to be a lockout,’’ the owner said. “There’s not even a doubt in my mind about that. Billy’s not going to make a deal like that. Teams are already saving up money for a strike.’’ Maybe the players should start saving too.
I have no doubt that there's going to be a lockout after next season. That's why everyone will try to cash in this summer, because the well is going to dry up considerably afterwards. It's interesting to watch the Arenas showdown with Stern and Hunter with the lockout looming over everything. I kind of look at as opening skirmishes in what will be a major war next summer. I do think the owners will get what they want. With teams losing money like they are, it'll probably be more profitable for some to shut it down for a while. Most owners, also draw their income from other sources than their teams. The players, on the other hand, will most likely cave in like they did last time. I'm sure the Union is telling players to start saving and to get leaner in anticipation of the lockout, but I'm confident that most of them will not be ready. So Stern plays hardball, the unions says no, the NBA locks the whole thing down, months tick by, players start getting their homes foreclosed on, the Union agrees to maybe give a little back, Stern gives them the middle finger, players start losing their luxury cars and maybe a yacht or two, the Union says we can give a lot back, Stern gives them both middle fingers, players get desparate, Oden does a porno, some ill-advised rap albums are recorded, a major star goes to Europe, Hunter says we'll give you everything you asked for and more, Stern smiles, and there's a new CBA. What remains to be seen is whether the whole season will be canceled. Will it be a lockout-shortened season like 1999 or just blown away completely?
And of course the fans get screwed in all of this. The public perception during a sports strike is always that the players are too greedy. Well what about the owners? They are just as much to blame as the players. I just hope that if the owners get what they want from the players (reduced salaries). The savings are then passed on to the fans (reduced ticket prices). But fat chance of that happening.
I'm with you. The season after the lockout was the last season I had season tickets to the Rockets. It didn't help that the Houston front office was egotistical and fat after years of sell-outs. They acted as if I was doing them a favor for giving them a deposit the previous spring and wanting a refund when the team didn't play until February (?). They should have played it like Utah (the only time I give them props) and offer a 2 for 1 deal on season tickets. The Summit was pretty dead that year, and I haven't been to a game in Houston since that season. I have heard that the Rockets revamped their ticket services in recent years. I love this game, but all sides majorly turned me off the giving them my money for a while. There will be backlash this time around as well, but I think the owners are prepared to take it and reap a lot more profits down the road.
Let em strike. The players have too much power. There's no way in hell T-Mac should be the highest paid player in the league this year. That shouldn't be allowed to happen. The first 2 years guaranteed with the 3rd and 4th based on performance sounds perfect to me.
Ummm...let's see...multimillionaire owners vs. players who make millions and spend most of their money Wonder which side is going to be able to hold out longer.
Good point. I just hope this doesnt happen. Of course the real losers in deals like this is....us, the fans. I remember the great season the Astros were having on that baseball strike year. I do believe Bagwell was in line for MVP. Knowing the luck of Houston sports, the Rockets will be off to a 81-1 record, when a potential strike would go down.
That was a strike by the Union in the middle of a contract. This case it will be like 1999 with a CBA up for negotiation and the league deciding to shut it down until there's a new one in place. The Union and the NBA could agree to play another year under the existing CBA, but Stern and the owners won't go for that. So there will likely be a draft then nothing. Players can meet up to practice on their own, but there will be no league-sanctioned or supervised events. We might get a shortened season, or we might get no season if the work stoppage lasts long enough. I don't think there will be a quick resolution, because the owners will play hardball and it'll take at least a summer for players to burn through their money and get desperate enough to cave. I wonder what players will put on 100 pounds and see their careers end.
