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Owners and players make some headway
By Ken Gimblin October 19, 2011 |
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SACRAMENTO--The players and owners have moved a few inches towards their goal at a settlement as the issue of a revenue split has made a little progress. The report says that both sides are getting close to the 50-50 split geared toward revenue performance. The mediation process on Wednesday took 8.5 hours a league source said that while there was some movement the source cautioned that the progress could change if the system portion of the negotiation is disrupted. Both sides are scheduled to return back to the table 2PM Eastern and are prepared to go at length. Both sides will meet right after the owner's board of governors meeting. In that meeting they will decide the revenue performance issue that has been one of the sticking points during the lock out. Federal mediator George Cohen said that the meetings have been "direct and constructive." The luxury tax has been a major obstacle of the debate where teams who overpay players can be penalized. The NBA wants to restrict teams from paying over the cap to pay current players. The league also wants to restrict teams from signing players over the cap using midlevel and biannual exceptions to sign players on a year to year basis. The players argue this would be a hard salary cap and this part could be a sticking point as the owners are after getting the year to year contracts. "Everyone is extremely focused on the core issues, the difficult issues that confront them." said Cohen. The players have said they are willing to come down to 53% from 57% on their salaries, while to owners want the players to come down to 47%. NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that if a deal is not reached this month he will cancel the NBA prime time games on Christmas day but has reportedly tabled any cancelations while the negotiations continue. Ken Gimblin is covers Kings basketball and the NBA lock out for Sportstalk Radio |
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