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NBA not opposed to All-Star in Vegas
(CRI)
Updated: 2005-04-23 16:24 "It was not a contentious
issue at all," said commissioner David Stern, who estimated the owners spent
less than 10 minutes discussing the subject during the two days of meetings at a
Manhattan hotel.
Much more time was spent discussing the status of
negotiations with the players' union on a new collective bargaining agreement to
replace the one that expires June 30. The sides are expected to convene again
next week after union director Billy Hunter meets with a large group of players
to update them on the status of talks.
"I'd say we're closer to 50
percent (finished) than 80 percent," Stern said. "We've done a good job of
defining a broad array of issues that need to be addressed, but we have not
determined whether the final trades can be made.
"If the deal doesn't
get done, it'll be because the sides weren't able to fashion a compromise,"
Stern said. "We have no agreement on anything until we have a deal on
everything."
The Board of Governors, with one representative from each
of the league's 30 ownership groups, also was briefed on the statistical state
of the game and officiating issues, was updated on plans to expand the NBDL and
was introduced to new WNBA commissioner Donna Orender.
Deputy
commissioner Russ Granik briefed the owners on labor talks, which have been
taking place regularly in New York since late February.
Among the key
items the sides are bargaining over are the maximum length of player contracts,
the maximum annual raises allowed in those contracts, and the future of the
escrow and luxury taxes designed to dissuade spending on player salaries.
"I surely hoped we'd have it done by now, or have it much closer than we
currently are," Stern said, declining to discuss specifics.
One of the
biggest issues in labor talks is the so-called age limit, with the league
favoring a change in current rules that allow American players to declare for
the draft after their high school class graduates. (International players must
turn 18 before the draft). Recent years have seen a heavy influx of 17- and
18-year olds entering the draft, and Stern would like the minimum age raised to
19 or 20.
"We would very much like to get our scouts and general
managers out of high school gyms," Stern said.
NBA officials traveled to
Las Vegas last week to tour proposed sites for the league's showcase event,
which will be held in Houston next season.
The league is now awaiting a
formal proposal from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and an
announcement on the host city for 2007 should come before the end of the NBA
Finals in mid-June.
"It was well received," Stern said of the Las Vegas
idea. "There was a general acceptance that this was a good idea.
"What's
happening increasingly with our All-Star game is that because of its size and
the stress we put on hotel stock, transportation, convention space, even
movement, it may get to a place where a smaller number of cities can deal with
it," Stern said. "So that has left us open to the proposition that we would
consider non-NBA cities."
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