NBA Lockout at Pivotal Stage with Regular-Season Games in Jeopardy

The ongoing NBA lockout is one with no definitive end date in sight.

The players and owners are engaged in a staring contest to see which side blinks first, and both sides emerged from Tuesday's meeting still waiting for the other to make the necessary concessions.

Commissioner David Stern is a master of public posturing.

When the owners and players broke off negotiations on Tuesday evening and announced that no deal had been reached, those who were not in New York staking out the negotiations had to sit by the computer and rely on Twitter updates to hear what the players were saying during their press conference.

After the players were finished speaking, it was time for Commissioner Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver to address the media.

Suddenly, there was coverage. Real, live television coverage from the labor front.

What happened?

Camera crews didn't suddenly come rolling in hot and arrive just in time for the Stern and Silver's address.

The choice not to air the NBPA's message was a clear one, and it's an issue that has largely gone unnoticed by many dissecting the events of the afternoon.

In the previous collective bargaining agreement, players were entitled to 57 percent of basketball-related income (BRI).

Stern, in his addressing of the media, made it clear that although a formal proposal was not made, that the owners would be willing to split the difference from where the two sides stood and call for a 50-50 split of the BRI.

Seem fair?

A 50-50 BRI split without any additional concessions and/or deductions still represents a sharp seven percent decline from the previous agreement.

So, what does that mean exactly?

Here is an excerpt from the letter that NBPA president Derek Fisher and NBPA executive director Billy Hunter said to the players detailing what such a move would mean for the league.

"

During those talks, the owners suggested that they might consider a BRI split likely to yield the players 50% of current BRI. After seriously considering whether we should proceed down this path, our group determined not to do so. Recognizing all the owners' arguments about the state of the business and the condition of the economy, in our view, the owners can and should share more of the record revenues our players generate. Reducing our share of BRI by 7 points to 50%—a
level we have not received since the early 1990's—is simply not a fair split.

"

Stern came out looking like a good guy to some fans, and a great guy to others. He emerged as the voice of reason, calling for a fair deal that was split down the middle between the two sides.

However, what he never mentioned was that the new, fair split between the parties was indeed a seven percent reduction from where the previous agreement had stood.

When the two sides began the negotiating process, they were $8 billion apart—a seemingly insurmountable figure with their backs against the calendar to get a deal done.

Now, as Ken Berger of CBS Sports points out, the players and owners can bridge the gap and offers an idea of exactly how to achieve that.

"

So when the sides resume meeting—possibly as early as Thursday, with a league-imposed Monday deadline to reach a deal before regular-season games are canceled—each one moves another $200 million. (They'd lose that money anyway by failing to reach a deal.) The bargaining gap is now $500 million over seven years, or about $71 million a year.

Here's how they close it: They split the difference. The magic number is $16.05 billion, or roughly 51.5 percent for the players and 48.5 for the owners. Given the format already discussed by the two sides, this could be accomplished with the players receiving a band of 51-52 percent.

"

Given the fact that the two sides have been able to turn an $8 billion gap into a much more manageable margin, it doesn't make sense to cease discussing every possible way to save the full NBA season.

The lockout isn't an issue that resonates with most fans.

Rather than seeing the actual issues that are on the table, most deem the talks as billionaire's vs. millionaire's and can't fathom how the two sides can't come to an agreement before the start date of the season.

The word "progress" has lot its meaning as a result of it constantly getting used by members on both sides to depict the conversations, as it's clear that there has been nothing agreed to with just five days to go before the league is forced to cancel (at least) the first two weeks of the season.

Both the players and owners knew that this lockout was coming. This wasn't something that was a surprise, but rather a scenario that was highly expected and frightfully embraced.

There has been so much time for the parties to make substantive movement in the negotiations, but all we have heard is the word "progress."

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary offers the following definition: "A forward or onward movement (as to an objective or to a goal): advance"

It's time to find a new adjective to describe the extended process.

True progress is made when the goal is achieved, and that has yet to happen.