Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Union president Derek Fisher says his orders from NBA players are clear: No deal.
“The current offer on the table from the NBA is one that we cannot accept,” he said Tuesday.
Instead, the players said they will ask for another meeting with the owners before commissioner David Stern’s Wednesday afternoon deadline.
Stern has said that if the players don’t take the current deal by then, the league’s next offer will be much worse.
The players insisted they will not be forced into taking a bad deal by an ultimatum.
“The players are saying that we understand their position, but unfortunately we’re not intimidated by that,” union executive director Billy Hunter said.
The league’s current proposal calls for players to receive between 49 percent and 51 percent of basketball-related income, though players argue it would be nearly impossible to get above 50.2 percent.
If they don’t agree to it by 5 p.m. Wednesday, the next offer will call for salary rollbacks, a 53-47 revenue split in the owners’ favor and essentially a hard salary cap.
And, Hunter said he heard, games canceled through Christmas.
Players seem willing to negotiate further on the revenue split if they get some concessions on the salary cap system. Without them, Fisher said “we don’t see a way of getting a deal done between now and end of business” Wednesday.
The union called the meeting after Stern issued his ultimatum early Sunday morning. Fisher said 43 players, including superstars Carmelo Anthony and Blake Griffin, attended the meeting and that 29 of the 30 teams were represented.
-AP
Tired of the NBA Lockout? Do something about it!
NBA Fanout: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/nba-fanout/
The NBA owners and players have decided it is more important to posture and fight over percentage points of the already billions of dollars they are earning (from US, the fans by the way) each NBA season. During the negotiating, the losing of games, the back and forth over revenue sharing, and the cancelling of games, is either side really considering the fans in all of this? In all sports, owners and players are only worried about the money. So why don’t we remind them where they get it from? The NBA owners want a lockout? I’m calling for a FANOUT. We the fans need to step up and make sure they know who makes it possible.
I am asking all NBA fans to “ballcott” the NBA this upcoming season if they ever even get it together enough to have games. It’s simple. I’m not asking anyone to stop rooting for their team. I’m not even asking you not to watch games. Just for one season, we can take action.
For the 2011-2012 season don’t do 2 things:
1. Don’t go to any NBA games.
2. Don’t buy any NBA merchandise. No jerseys, hats, stickers, cups, NBA TV packages. Nothing.
If we do these 2 things the league will have to take notice, and think twice next time they want to cancel our favorite game. How much revenue would they even have to share with each other if we do this?
I’m encouraging people to do this, just for one season. Why should we let them have all the power? Sign this petition if you agree with me and you are willing to sacrifice just a little bit this one season (and it will save you some money). Let’s show some union solidarity of our own NBA fans. Ballcott the NBA and show them who this is really all about.