No winners here
Posted: Wednesday January 06, 1999 07:22 PM
CNN/SI reporter Mark Morgan spoke to Sports Illustrated senior writer
Jackie MacMullan following the players' ratification vote of the new NBA
labor agreement.
Mark Morgan: First of all, Jackie, the question is, who won?
Jackie MacMullan: Nobody won. That's pretty obvious to me, and
they can hug and kiss and shake hands all they want, which is what they'll
do when they have their joint press conference. But speaking of David Stern
coming in to address the players, at least a dozen of them walked out. They
wouldn't even listen to what David had to say. So it's going to take some
time to mend fences here. The big losers, as usual, are the fans and the
ticket-paying customers.
Morgan: Let's talk about a 50- to 55-game regular season ... is
that legitimate? Obviously, calendar-wise, that's all they can do at this
point.
MacMullan: I think it's legitimate ... why not? If that's all
they can do, that's all they can do. You're going to see a lot of
back-to-back-to-back games, something you haven't seen for a very, very
long time. I think the best-conditioned teams are going to have a leg up, a
team like the Indiana
Pacers that's been working out together all this time. You've got to
really think that they're the favorites to win the championship, especially
because the players repeatedly tell us that Michael Jordan
is retired. We keep hearing it from the players; I heard it three times
again today, Charles
Barkley insists that Jordan told him that two months ago.
Morgan: Who do you feel gave the most in this? We were joking
earlier, you and I, that 57 percent of gross revenues went to player
salaries in the last collective bargaining agreement.
MacMullan: We had this thing figured out months ago ...
Morgan: ... and if one's at 57 and one's at 53, you would think,
well, let's make it happen. It ended up being 55 percent ...
MacMullan: And remember, they told us that was too complicated. I
think in the end, the players had to give back because essentially that's
what this was all about. The owners reopened this agreement because they
wanted the players to give back and the players did that. They did make
some tiny, little incremental things like, one last twist today, the rookie
salary cap, as we expected, will be three years with the fourth year as the
team option and the fifth year will be a right of refusal.
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