Print
RSS Feeds
E-News Sign Up
Share on Facebook|
|
|
Commissioner Stern again addessed the state of labor negotiations, three months after speaking on the issue at NBA All-Star 2005.
Gary Dineen/NBAE/Getty Images |
Commissioner Stern: I don’t know if the age limit will be a problem but we have proposed a raising of the minimum age beyond its present 18 and we have proposed, as we told congress, four random tests per year including one offseason as well. I would guess it would not ultimately be a problem, given the enormous amount of attention this subject has been getting.
Q: Have there been any talks with the union?
Commissioner Stern: If we said there are no ongoing talks we would not be exactly accurate. We continue dialog with the players and we anticipate setting up a meeting in the near future.
Q: Did you feel you had an agreement on maximum length of contracts?
Commissioner Stern: I don’t know where we can get back to. We felt we were very close to an agreement. I don’t want to get into the “who shot who” other than to say that the reason this thing boiled over into the public was that at the time we felt that there had been a significant backsliding from where we thought we were. Each side is free to decide that they would like to move away from the deal. But then we were getting media phone calls saying why is there no meeting scheduled, and we felt it was necessary to say that the reason there’s no meeting scheduled is because we have backslid from where we were and have no idea where we’re going. We did think we were close to a deal based on a variety of proposals. The players were firmly within their moral and legal rights to say they didn’t want to make that deal for any reason. And so now we don’t have anything. My main concern is that as we move along. Yesterday we got a communication from a large seller of our merchandise that canceled any orders from this point forward, because their view is the NBA is looking unreliable. And what we’ve said to the players is that that’s the offer the owners are prepared to make. If we begin to suffer business losses, it’s not going to be that the deal that’s on the table is always available. We’re very anxious to try to make a deal. We may or may not be able to. We were very anxious and that’s why we pushed our owners to guarantee the 57 percent, lower the tax and raise the cap, all of which are designed to enhance free agency. And from out perspective, what that did is take away the argument that lowering contract years was an economic issue. What it really becomes is an issue of who gets the money that’s guaranteed into the system. If we guarantee that there’s going to be 57 percent every year paid to the players then there will be 57 percent paid. But if a player is in year seven and not quite earning it, that’s taking money out of the system. What we’re talking about is which members of the union the money will be paid to, but we guaranteed it and that was an important negotiating point, because we wanted to make it clear these other issues weren’t about money. They were about the game. Just as we believe age is about the game, drug testing is about the game and contract length is about the game. That’s where we are and frankly we’re optimistic that our players will come back and talk to us in an intelligent way.
Q: What would you say to supporters of the union that say that teams that are run well can manage the cap and make money in this league and there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken?
Commissioner Stern: That’s a fair point and I guess what I would say to you is that by virtue of offering to guarantee the 57 percent, we’ve accepted a very important part of that proposition. What that leaves a little short is the issue of the pressures that teams have which are not so easily resolved, to make a player a max player, whatever that is. What we would like to do is to reduce the length of max contracts. Owners have certain intense pressures, and so what we’re trying to do is re-define the max contract to ensure that within the context of our unit, where we’re going to pay the money, it just goes to the players that are most deserving of it. That’s why the guarantee was so important to us as an economic matter.
Q: Are you concerned about a lockout?
Commissioner Stern: Of course I’m concerned. We’ve had our own experience with that and it’s something we would not like to do. But make no mistake about it, the only way to make a deal is to be able to not make a deal, and if this thing drags on, there are a number of owners who think that the offer on the table is not necessarily the offer that they would like to see accepted. They would like to see something harsher. As commissioner, and what I like to think, as a leader here, I agree with those that say that if we can keep the economics of this deal intact, pressure though it may be on the bottom line, recognizing that franchise values are stable and hopefully rising, if we can tweak it, and in my view, tweaking is okay we accept the economics, but now let’s talk about contract length, drug testing and entry age, all of which deal with perception and reputation issues, and I think that’s important. And on the entry age, let me say that the perception of the NBA looking at players that are high school seniors is not a great perception. I’d like to get NBA personnel out of high school gyms. We can talk about Kobe and LeBron and Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal, or we can talk about Lenny Cooke and Leon Smith and Korleone Young and a host of others. The better business good and the better community good is to raise the minimum entry age from 18 to a higher number. And there’s no right and no wrong. It’s just a matter of negotiation.
Q: We’ve heard optimistic, hopeful and alarming to describe the state of negotiations with the players. Do you have a word to describe it at this point?
Commissioner Stern: It depends. If the players like the deal we’re proposing, then I’d be optimistic. I’ve heard some public expressions and characterizations of it and me in somewhat unflattering terms and I think that’s why it’s important for me to be making these statements, because I don’t want the media to be misinformed. I want everyone to understand what’s on the table and what may be impacted in a negative way if we don’t make the deal. I happen to think it’s a pretty good deal, because I have some owners who dislike it as much as some agents and players. I accept their views all around, but what we’re trying to do is craft a deal that makes sense for this great sport and continues the relative roll we’re on. These are great playoffs. The sponsors are returning to our games. The rating are strong and people are getting a chance to see a variety of very interesting and different styles in our conference finals. And, despite all this talk about this not being such a good draft, that’s being promulgated by our GM’s, who don’t want anyone to know about the underage players or the international players or the college players that they have on their lists. When it all plays out, I think you’re going to see there’s a lot of talent in this sport and in this world of basketball. So, we’re in a good place, but if we can’t make a deal, I want it very importantly said, that this is the kind of framework that we’re not making a deal over.
Q: What is preventing the NBA from taking the D-League and making it a full-fledged minor league system?
Commissioner Stern: There’s nothing wrong with a full-fledged minor league and we’ve actually moved into the Southwest, adding four D-League teams and my guess is we’ll move that up to a 15-team league in a relatively short period of time. But, it’s still keeps us telling kids we’re going to draft you out of high school. That’s what you should be planning for, whether you’re 17 or 16 or six, the NBA is the place you go after high school, and frankly, as a business matter, that’s not a good business decision in my view. I’m not going to get on a social platform. This has nothing to do with dealing with the college. If kids want to go to college, that’s fine. This is not telling young men that they should go to college. No one has to tell Bill Gates that he has to go to college. No one should tell a basketball player that he should go to college. What we want on behalf of the NBA to tell kids, they better plan to do something after high school that is not the immediate road to the NBA. If they want to play in minor league, if they want to go to college, if they want to go overseas, if the want to anything they want to, that’s fine. Our age is 18, the NFL’s is 21. We think that something in between makes sense.
Q: Why is basketball different from baseball in that regard?
Commissioner Stern: It’s not, necessarily. It depends on what your role model is. My role model is football, where the age is 21. Baseball has a system where if you’re not drafted immediately, and you go to college, you can’t be drafted for three years. I don’t know if that’s good, bad or indifferent. I actually think that I like the idea of perhaps a 19-year-old or 20-year-old limit. It’s easier to administer and most of all, it gets us out the business of scouting 16-year-olds and gets me out of the business of fining teams for working out 18-year-old players. It’s not a good place for this league to be. It’s not good for our reputation, and it’s really not a very good message for a sports league to send out.
Q: Is there a concern over physical maturity when discussing an age limit?
Commissioner Stern: Our negotiations are not about physical maturity. There are demands in our league that have to do with 171 days and 82 games. It’s tough and stressful and some players react to it better than others. But, we’re trying very hard, with respect to a minor league, with respect to dealing with our players, the younger players. We think we can make it all work, but we would like very much to get a little older. We think that would be an intelligent business decision.
Q: What have you heard when you’re pitching the age limit thing overseas, where more players would be affected by it?
Commissioner Stern: I think you make a very good point that has been largely lost in the debate, that the impact on international players is going to be equally large, as the impact on American players. The Pau Gasols, the Tony Parkers, the Dirk Nowitzkis. From the basketball infrastructure, I’ve had people say to me that there are a number of international players that came into the NBA too soon, went back home and actually never developed as a result of making themselves available and flunking out of the NBA, that if they had a year or two more to develop, that would be extraordinary for them, their leagues and the NBA. From agents representing international players, I’ve read that this is a terrible thing for international players. For the NBA, I think we should treat everyone the same. You have an age limit and it applies to everybody, wherever they’re born, and you try to do the best you can.
Q: Why is the 1999 agreement broken and why does it need to be changed?
Commissioner Stern: It’s not broken economically. We’re prepared to guarantee 57 percent. We think there really is something about our age, our current drug testing procedures and the length of our contracts, which within the context of our same system, would make sense to change, and that’s what this negotiation is about. I would not be accurate if I didn’t tell you there are a hundred other issues that we’re negotiating and some of them involve our own teams, because we’re struggling to make sure we have a competitive environment among existing NBA teams. So, there are some points that actually designed to continue to enhance competition among our teams. There are a lot of issues we are trying to deal with. The relationship among NBA owners and the relationship among players and the relationship between the NBA and its players. We really think that we’ve carefully thought this out, and despite the rhetoric of our owners that say we have to make it more profitable, I think we’ve revealed ourselves perhaps maybe too weakly or too meekly, where we say 57 percent works, at least for not upsetting the league, but if the players don’t want that and our business begins to suffer, then 57 percent will not work and we’ll see who will survive in a showdown that we don’t want, we don’t need and would not be good for anyone associated with the sport.
