I hope you’re ready to go “all in” (I bring that up because here in the Chicago sports world that phrase has a new double meaning, and it’s associated with abject failure) with watching college basketball and hockey.
Because abject failure describes exactly how the latest round of labor talks went yesterday. The NBA negotiations made zero progress, and it looks very likely that will have games cancelled all the way to the beginning of 2012. At this point the entire NBA season is in jeopardy.
So you have to wonder how could they collectively be this much of dumb asses? How can they all strangle the golden goose and loose out on all that revenue?
According to the AP:
NBA labor talks turned nasty and broke off Thursday when three days of meetings failed to yield a deal to end a 112-day lockout, raising the likelihood that even more games will be canceled in an already fractured season.
After 30 hours of negotiations before a federal mediator, the sides remained divided over two main issues – the division of revenues and the structure of the salary cap system.
“Ultimately, we were unable to bridge the gap that separates the two parties,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We understand the ramifications of where we are. We’re saddened on behalf of the game.”
Basically, the league is coming off a year of record television ratings, but letting all that momentum, and the new audience who’ve embraced the game dissipate. Just when the league is getting to be its most interesting, David Stern don’t seem very interested in getting the league back to work. Derek Fisher, the Union Leader, accused the owners of spreading lies in the media.
And it seems the owners are unwilling to take a 50-50 revenue split with the players; should the players offer it. In the previous collective bargaining agreement, the players took home 57 percent.
In other words, college hoops season can’t get here fast enough.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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