NBA Lockout Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

NBA Lockout Paper - Essay Example They two parties could not come to a consensus regarding the division of revenue and the proposed structure of the salary cap and taxation of the player’s luxury. During the period of the lockout, the player could not access NBA team facilities, trainer or staff; they could not make any trades, sign or contact the players. This led to player signing other contract in countries like Asia and Europe and left a possibility of returning to the NBA after the conclusion of the NBA lockout. A tentative deal was eventually reached in November 26 2011 and allowed for the start of the season shortly thereafter. Following a previous lock in the 1998- 99 season, a six year contract was agreed between the owners and the players. This meant that the CBA was set to expire by 2005. A new agreement was meant to take place but, there were several issues that blocked a new contract. The issues include the age limit for the rookies that were to be drafted in the NBA, limiting the length of the lo ng term contract that many teams had to sign with their players and the toughening of the existing drug testing program. The two parties reached an agreement that prevented a lock out in 2005. This deal was meant to grant the player 57 percent of the Basketball Related Income (BRI). This deal was also meant to last six years. Due to the economic crisis, eight officials of NBA asked the Commissioner David Stern to address the issue on Large market and Small market teams (Rosner 78). He said the current economic system only worked for the large market teams which made them successful but, those small teams were facing major losses. The two parties under the CBA began to look for a possible solution to this issue that seemed to get out of hand. The league declared that it was losing close to 300 million dollars in a year. This meant that out of a possible 30 teams, 22 were counting losses. Therefore, they proposed that the player’s salary was to be reduced to 40 %, which came to about 800 million. They also recommended for the salary cap to be reduced to $ 45 million opposing the current one at 58 million. These recommendations were not taken lightly as the union disputed the figures and were steadfast to oppose these changes. Billy Hunter, the director of the union advised the player for a lockout. Negotiations continued regarding the salary cap, and the newest proposal known as the flex cap was meant to limit the payroll at 62 million but reprimand on the event that the team’s payroll exceeded the average league payroll of the season. The Union still felt that this was a hard cap (Washington post ). Players offered a salary reduction cut an estimate of about 500 million over the next five years from 57 to 54.3 Percent. However, the owners proposed a 2 billion cut for the next ten years. On June 30 2011, both side tried to resolve the key issues of the BRI splits and salary cap but, there were no able to come into an agreement. The owners demanded a bigger portion making claims of losing money whereas, the players were willing to make special considerations, but they refused to completely cave to the demand of the owners. This eventually to a break off and the CBA expired. With the NBA player deciding to reject the latest offer, the mutli billion dollar game ended in a crash. The players disclaimed their union and ended its right to negotiate on their behalf.