'There's hope'
Secret meeting results in most productive session thus far
Posted: Tuesday October 27, 1998 11:06 AM
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Under the gun: Stern (right) said the rest of the November schedule likely will be canceled this week unless a settlement can be reached AP |
NEW YORK (AP) -- The opposing sides in the NBA lockout met for about nine
hours Monday and finally started talking in detail about a compromise,
making it the most productive negotiating session they've had to date.
"There's hope," said Dikembe
Mutombo of the Atlanta
Hawks.
The league backed off somewhat on its demand for a hard salary cap,
meaning the sides have to be closer, at least in principle, to coming to an
agreement on the main economic issues.
"We need a system that eventually gets to where there's a set percentage
for the players and a set percentage for the owners," deputy commissioner
Russ Granik said. "I don't think it has to be a hard cap, and in fact some
of the things we're talking about now are not hard caps."
About 20 people from the union and 10 from the league worked through the
afternoon and into the night Monday at a luxury Manhattan hotel. The site
was kept a secret to avoid the circus atmosphere that has surrounded past
negotiating sessions.
Talks resumed Tuesday with the sides discussing non-economic issues. On
Wednesday, a negotiating session will cover many of the topics discussed
Monday.
"The best thing is we have some sort of an agreement on basic
principles," said Orlando center Danny Schayes,
a member of the union's executive committee.
"Right now we're talking about a hybrid system. The first couple of years
it would work one way, for another couple of years it would work another
way if the first way didn't work. At least we're finding some common
ground."
Most participants left after about 7 1/2 hours, but a few members from
each side, including commissioner David Stern and union director Billy
Hunter, continued until 11:30 p.m. EST.
Despite the stealthiness and the reluctance of most of the principals to
discuss details, it was eminently clear that the sides were moving away
from confrontation and toward compromise.
The league was asking to operate under a luxury tax system for the next
three seasons, with a fallback system of a harder salary cap for the next
three years. The union was asking for a tax system lasting two years, with
the fallback system lasting another two years, Schayes said.
"Instead of absolute cost certainty, there would be mechanisms that give
the owners a very good shot at costs within a certain range. So it's a good
compromise in that area," Schayes said.
Still, the sides had not made any movement on whose contracts would be
taxable and how high the tax would be. In earlier bargaining sessions, the
union proposed a 50 percent tax on the amount of any annual salary
exceeding $18 million, and the owners proposed a tax of anywhere from 50 to
200 percent on any contract signed under the Larry Bird exception for more
than $2.6 million annually.
"The good news is at least we're talking about the same thing," Schayes
said. "We're not close on the specifics, so it depends what you call
progress. There's nothing that would signal any imminent announcements, but
we've agreed to talk more."
The sides have agreed to meet again Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's
session will focus on non-economic issues, and Wednesday's meeting will
cover many of the topics discussed Monday.
Stern, Granik, Hunter and union president Patrick Ewing
met for about three hours Saturday to conclude a contentious week that
included arbitrator John Feerick's decision on owners' liability for
guaranteed contracts and the union's militant meeting in Las Vegas.
"The tone has changed coming out of Vegas," said Jim McIlvaine
of Seattle, another member of the union's executive committee. "Every day
we don't reach a deal is another bad day, and all we've agreed upon is that
we'll continue to meet."
Monday's talks -- the seventh joint session -- came in advance of a
two-day meeting of the league's Board of Governors. It was Stern's best
chance to make a bold move toward settling a dispute that has lasted nearly
four months and has forced the league to cancel games for the first time in
its history.
The owners' labor committee, which is to meet Tuesday, includes David
Checketts (Knicks), Mickey Arison (Heat), Gordon Gund (Cavaliers), Les
Alexander (Rockets), Jerry Colangelo (Suns), Peter Holt (Spurs), Larry
Miller (Jazz), Jerry Buss (Lakers) and Abe Pollin (Wizards).
On Wednesday, the full board will meet. The sides have scrapped plans to
have dozens, or perhaps hundreds of players attend.
If the sides can come up with a compromise number at which the luxury tax
would kick in, they would effectively set a sort of maximum salary. That
would leave more money for the middle class of players that was shrinking
under the old labor agreement.
In their previous proposal, the owners insisted upon having a hard salary
cap as a fallback in case a tax system failed to reduce the amount of
basketball-related income devoted to player salaries.
Under that fallback proposal, each player would have a percentage of his
salary deducted from his paycheck and put into an escrow account. At the
end of the season, if the amount of revenue devoted to salaries had not
dropped to 52 percent, enough of that escrow money would be returned to the
owners to hit the targeted percentages -- 52 percent in the 2000-01 season,
50 percent in 2001-02 and 48 percent in 2002-03.
Such a system would amount to a hard salary cap, and the players voted
unanimously in Las Vegas never to accept such a system.
Under the compromises being discussed Monday night, the escrow funds
would not all be returned to the owners. Instead, the sides discussed
possibly instituting the cap-tightening mechanisms the union has offered in
its previous proposals, Schayes said. Barring a quick settlement, the
rest of the November schedule -- and probably some December games -- will
be canceled this week. So far, only the first two weeks of the season have
been scrapped.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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