Stern projects $400 million in losses for the NBA
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 4:13 am
DALLAS -- David Stern said Saturday the NBA is projecting league-wide losses of about $400 million this season and has lost hundreds of millions in each previous year of the current collective bargaining agreement.
The commissioner said it has shown the players' association those numbers in hopes of demonstrating why the league feels it needs "significant changes" in the next deal.
The NBA's first proposal for a deal to replace the one that expires on July 1, 2011, was thrown out Friday after what players association director Billy Hunter called a "contentious" 90-minute meeting. Hunter said the proposal called for harsh changes that would affect every NBA player.
"The right adjectives were thrown around, and our proposal appropriately denounced. Our response is, 'You can denounce it, tear it up, you can burn it, you can jump up and down on it, as long as you understand that it reflects the financial realities of where we are," Stern said during his annual All-Star press conference.
"And if you would like to have your own proposal, as long as it comes back and deals with our financial realities, that's OK with us. That's fine with us. In fact, that's what we would like to do."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4912384
The commissioner said it has shown the players' association those numbers in hopes of demonstrating why the league feels it needs "significant changes" in the next deal.
The NBA's first proposal for a deal to replace the one that expires on July 1, 2011, was thrown out Friday after what players association director Billy Hunter called a "contentious" 90-minute meeting. Hunter said the proposal called for harsh changes that would affect every NBA player.
"The right adjectives were thrown around, and our proposal appropriately denounced. Our response is, 'You can denounce it, tear it up, you can burn it, you can jump up and down on it, as long as you understand that it reflects the financial realities of where we are," Stern said during his annual All-Star press conference.
"And if you would like to have your own proposal, as long as it comes back and deals with our financial realities, that's OK with us. That's fine with us. In fact, that's what we would like to do."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4912384