The 30 owners made the decision to lockout the players, if a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached, during almost five hours of meetings at a Dallas hotel. “The owners authorised the labour relations committee to do whatever steps were necessary to effectuate a new collective bargaining agreement and so that committee has the full authority of all 30 teams to act in whatever way they deem appropriate,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver told reporters.
Further talks with the players’ union are scheduled for later today, although hopes of a deal appear to be bleak with the two sides reportedly US$7 billion apart in talks over a new 10-year agreement. Last season the league generated revenues of about $4.3 billion although the NBA claimed in April that it expected to lose $300 million during the 2010-11 campaign, with 22 of the league’s 30 franchises set to report a loss.
“I sure would like to see us make a deal,” Stern told Reuters. “Not making a deal should give everybody apprehension.” The National Football League (NFL) has been in a lockout scenario since March following the expiration of a labour contract, but the NBA is on the brink of a third work stoppage in its history.
The NBA has lost games to a lockout on one occasion, when the 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games from 82, while the league also suffered an off-season lockout in 1995 that lasted for two-and-a-half months.
