By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Oct. 13, 1998

Move over everybody -- the NBA has just lowered itself to the standards set by the other three major professional sports leagues.

Related Links NBA cancels first two weeks of regular season Lockout timeline Forum: Which side is at fault?

For the first time in league history, the NBA will suffer a work stoppage - at least two weeks worth to be exact. And considering the tenet of the 3 1/2-hour negotiating session with the players association, there will be plenty more canceled games before the talks get serious.

The only result of Tuesday's session -- only the third official meeting between the sides attempting to carve out a new collective bargaining agreement -- was the NBPA's instruction to consider a luxury tax imposed on owners to deter them from overpaying players. There was little doubt this was a feeble attempt by the union to retain the soft cap that allows teams to pay unlimited sums of money to free agents under the Larry Bird Exception.

IF IT'S A PLOY, SOME MIGHT CALL IT laughable. NBA commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik find it ironic that this is back on the table. It was part of the initial agreement the players agreed to in 1995 -- then was forced out by player agents and a few players -- when former NBPA executive director Simon Guordine was fired.

"In 1995 we made a deal that included a tax among other things that would continue the growth of players' salaries," Stern said. "That deal was swept aside by a firestorm of agents, and we went to our colleagues (team owners) and asked 'do we go ahead with a work stoppage, or do we go ahead and try to resurrect some deal that had some element of risk to it?' We elected the latter to cobble together a deal that we hoped somehow would work."

So

Basketball players union director Billy Hunter (right) could be in for a long struggle with the league. (AP)

they did the five-year deal with the option to re-open the contract if the basketball-related income received by the players exceeded 51 percent. Stern says now by all estimates, last year it was closer to 60 percent than the originally agreed upon 48 percent. As for the luxury tax, we see how it has affected baseball -- the rich teams keep getting richer and the other teams are fighting to stay alive. The climate of salaries is completely different than it was three years ago and that's why the luxury tax is no longer a viable alternative

"It might act as a deterrent -- depending on how much money in taxes somebody would have to pay for somebody making a contract of say $10 million (a year)," Granik said. "It can only work if it's a high enough rate. Will somebody have to pay $1, $2 or $0.50 for ever dollar over $10 million? It's probably not effective enough to prevent teams with greater resources to have the ability to pay the tax against teams with lesser resources who do not."

In other words, it ain't gonna work.

UNDERSTANDING THE RAMIFICATIONS of canceling the first two weeks of games will cost the league approximately $30 million revenue. Already it's 1/82nd of the games and the schedule is guaranteed to be a mess from here on out if they manage to reach an agreement in the next six weeks.

They've already sent out a statement for all teams to send out refunds to season ticket-holders at the end of November (including preseason games) for the first month plus six percent interest. Individual game ticket-holders will receive the same refund or rain-checks for other games depending on their preference.

Stern sounded morose when speaking with the media. He almost had the tone of an undertaker. After all, he's been representing the NBA for 30 years. He began as an attorney representing the league, then the general counsel, and finally the commissioner. He views the unwillingness to negotiate by executive director Billy Hunter and president Patrick Ewing to be an abhorrent disrespect to the past and future of the league.

Phone calls to the union were not returned to CBS SportsLine. But, it's obvious they are waiting for arbitrator John Feerick to rule whether or not the owners must pay the 200 or so players with guaranteed contracts during the lockout. Feerick's court-imposed deadline is Oct. 18 to make a decision. The owners are worried about that because of the money and because it will galvanize the players.

But Granik said, "It shouldn't matter. They are separate issues. We still won't have a contract."

So now we go on. Figure on the weekend or so for the next meeting when the NBA tells the union the luxury tax won't work. It won't. Stern can call it the "labels" that the players keep harping on ... hard cap, soft cap, Bird Exception, etc., ... nonetheless, they are the issues. And right now, they are insurmountable.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THE NBA WILL face upon settlement is the apathy over the situation right now. With the entertainment dollar ever- dwindling, plus resurgent baseball in the middle of the postseason and the NFL and college football in the heart of the regular season -- the general public will not show any sense of sympathy for either party.

Nor should they. Stern sounds morose because he's nervous. Rightfully so. He talked about the slim possibility of the luxury tax in a "Draconian form," working out. But he knew better. They are ready to pick up the pace of negotiations. The players don't feel the same sense of urgency yet and they probably won't until they start missing paychecks next month.

"It's a completely different situation than it was in 1995," Stern said. "This is about a flaw in the deal. We're mindful of baseball teams losing money and an NHL team filing bankruptcy. We need to get to a place where it's 51.8 percent or below for the owners and make certain guarantees. We have the highest-priced union in the world and we believe we have a system that will still allow our teams to make money.

"So from our perspective, we want to pick up the pace, but only if there is a pace to pick up. We're going to try real had to give them a proposal and we're going to be available to march over to wherever we have to get to and try to make a deal on a round-the-clock basis. We recognize the economic realities and we're staying ready to do it on an accelerated pace if there's anything to talk about."

There's plenty to talk about. The bigger question would be: is anybody listening?