Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 16, 1995 TAG: 9509180055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Owners ensured six years of labor peace, voting 24-5 Friday to approve the collective bargaining agreement that players ratified earlier this week. The league's 2 1/2-month lockout, which prevented off-season signings, will be lifted Monday.
``If you're going to have a lockout, probably the best time to do it is the summertime,'' NBA commissioner David Stern said. ``But we have alerted the world we're not immune to the dangers of labor strife.''
The salary cap will rise from $15.9 million last season to $23 million this season, and rookies will be limited to three-year contracts. Training camps will open as scheduled on Oct.6 and the season will start on time on Nov.3.
Deputy commissioner Russ Granik said almost all the teams will be over the cap when business resumes Monday because of free agents they don't intend to re-sign who still are on their rosters.
``We think trading activity is pent up and is going to explode, especially among the expansion teams,'' Stern said.
Stern said small-market owners expressed concern that they would have more difficulty competing under the new deal, which runs through the 2000-01 season. He said they will bring up their problems again when the league revisits its revenue sharing formulas.
``The overriding item is the level of the salary cap, where it's being raised to and where it's likely to be raised beyond that,'' Stern said.
Player representatives voted 25-2 Wednesday to approve the deal, which was agreed to Aug.8. The union vote came one day after players voted 226-134 not to decertify the union, a move pushed for by Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and many agents. Rather that ratify the agreement, they thought they could get a better deal by proceeding with an antitrust suit against the owners.
``As the players perform under the contract ... I think you'll get back into what we consider to be the routine of professional basketball,'' said union head Simon Gourdine, who was criticized by the Jordan-Ewing group.
Sacramento's Mitch Richmond has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the league, accusing Stern of coercing players to vote against decertification by threatening to delay the season.
Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer for the dissident players, hasn't decided whether he will challenge the results of the decertification election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
``We probably won't make any determination until Monday or Tuesday,'' Kessler said.
Tuesday is the last day objections can be filed. Stern thought Kessler would be able to find at least one player willing to continue the challenge, but thought the deal would stand up to legal scrutiny.
Stern said the lockout, begun July 1, had hurt the league somewhat.
``No question our television partners were getting nervous about up-front sales,'' he said. ``We've been informed that retailers have been slow with respect to licensed merchandise. There were several sponsors who were not able to effectuate promotions.
``We're going to grow. The question is, would we have grown even more without this issue? So we really hope to cover it over, in effect. But I'm not prepared to say it's totally without long-term impact.''
Some agents would like to replace Gourdine with a negotiator who would take a harder line. Gourdine, who took over after players forced out hard-line union head Charles Grantham, wouldn't say whether he'd stay with the union long enough to negotiate the next deal.
``That's a long, long time,'' Gourdine said. ``I would certainly hope to be around for the foreseeable future. There's no question about that.''
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB