It's unanimous
NBA owners OK labor deal, move to lure back fans
Posted: Thursday January 07, 1999 03:42 PM
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David Robinson embraces Charlie Ward upon learning that the NBA season would be saved AP |
NEW YORK (AP) -- The NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the
lockout settlement Thursday, and the league immediately went to work trying
to win back the fans.
Commissioner David Stern said the league hopes to start the season Feb. 5
and play about 50 games.
Each team will play two exhibition games -- one home and one away -- and
admission will be free, Stern said, appearing at a news conference with
union director Billy Hunter and deputy commissioner Russ Granik.
Starting next season, at least 500 tickets for every regular season game
will be priced at $10 to lure families to arenas, Stern said.
"We have some winning back of fans to do, and we're going to do it," he
said.
"Most important to us is that basketball games will be upon us again, and
as a fan I am elated," Stern said.
The 29-0 vote by the owners was done by a show of hands, rather than a
secret ballot. It came one day after negotiators agreed on a new seven-year
collective bargaining agreement to end the 6-month-old lockout.
The players had approved the deal 179-5 on Wednesday.
The lockout will remain in effect until the agreement is put into written
form, a process that could take up to 10 days. Team facilities will open
Monday, but players will not yet be allowed to work with coaches.
The league also lifted its gag order on owners, general managers and
coaches, so long as they are only asked about basketball matters -- not
collective bargaining issues.
The Board of Governors' meeting lasted for about two hours. Stern and
Granik opened the meeting by addressing the representatives from each of
the 29 teams, and a league attorney explained the details of the new labor
agreement.
Hunter then was brought into the room and given a chance to speak to the
owners, just as Stern was permitted to speak to the players a day earlier
following their ratification vote.
"No applause was asked for or offered," Atlanta Hawks president
Stan Kasten said.
Granik announced the agreement should be put into written form by Jan.
18, after which training camps will be allowed to open and teams permitted
to sign free agents and make trades.
The regular season will last through the end of April, and the playoff
format will remain unchanged. Granik said the NBA Finals should conclude by
June 29 or 30.
"We're all happy to be back in the basketball business," Granik said.
Wednesday's agreement was reached just 29 hours before the Board of
Governors was to vote on canceling the rest of the season. It came during
an all-night bargaining session at NBA headquarters between Stern and
Hunter.
Union president Patrick Ewing
was not present at the final bargaining session or Thursday's news
conference.
"We're glad this is over," Hunter said. "Our players are anxious to play,
and we're anxious to join hands with David, Russ and the owners of the 29
teams to really create a strong and familial relationship -- one that will
take the NBA to another level and to bring back the fans.
"The only regret I have is that is took us so long to get where we are,"
Hunter said. "We're glad to be back, and we'll do whatever we have to do in
order to demonstrate that."
The lockout, now in its 192nd day, was the most divisive labor battle in
league history. It finally ended when Stern and Hunter compromised on the
remaining issues keeping them apart.
"We can exhale now, without a doubt," said Alonzo
Mourning of the Miami
Heat. "The deal is done and we can just focus our mind right now on
starting back up again."
"Did we blink? I guess we both blinked," Hunter said.
Each side made significant compromises to close the deal, but the owners
clearly walked away with a much better agreement than the old one. It gives
owners the unprecedented concession of a maximum limit on individual
salaries and will be in place for six years, with owners having an option
for a seventh year.
The players, for their part, came away with their dignity intact and with
more money for the non-superstars.
"Oh, I'm so relieved it's unbelievable," Milwaukee Bucks coach
George Karl said. "It's like I let a balloon out of my stomach. The knots
are already loosening up in my neck. I get to do what I love to do."
Before the season can begin, there will be a three-week frenzy of teams
scrambling to fill rosters, make trades and sign some of the 200 free
agents.
Among the free agents are Michael
Jordan, Scottie
Pippen, Dennis Rodman,
Charles
Barkley, Antonio
McDyess, Jayson
Williams, Vlade Divac, Matt Geiger, Jerry
Stackhouse, Theo Ratliff, Rod Strickland
and Damon
Stoudamire.
"We'll probably have eight months of NBA basketball squeezed into four
months, with trades and signings," Karl said.
Under terms of the new agreement, a grandfather clause allows any player
to re-sign with his team for 105 percent of his previous salary. That means
Jordan, who made about $33 million last year, could get about $34.7 million
from the Bulls.
No other team can offer him more than $14 million.
"Michael is going to analyze the deal, see what Chicago wants to do and
then make an informed decision," agent David Falk said. "I'm not certain
what his time frame is."
Once the games get started, players will be faced with an exhausting
schedule until playoffs start. Teams will be asked on occasion to play
three games in three nights, something that hasn't happened in the last 10
years.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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