NBA wants player salary costs to drop by a third

 

National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern, right, responds to a question as Adam Silver, NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer listens during a news conference in New York, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK—NBA commissioner David Stern said Thursday there was no quantifiable progress in collective bargaining talks over the summer, and the league revealed it is seeking a reduction in player salary costs by about one-third.

Stern said the league wants player costs to drop by $750-800 million. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA currently spends about $2.1 billion annually in player salaries and benefits.

"We would like to get profitable, have a return on investment," Stern said. "There's a swing of somewhere in the neighborhood of $750 to $800 million that we would like to change. That's our story and we're sticking with it."

Stern and Silver spoke after completing two days of meetings with league owners, who are seeking major changes to the current CBA that expires June 30. Silver said the league has told the union that owners are in a "diseconomic situation," with projected losses of about $340-350 million this season.

Even though season ticket sales are up, both insisted that no matter how well the league does at the box office, it won't change the fact that an overhaul is necessary.

"There's no chance we can change the fundamental economics regardless of our success because it just costs us too much money to generate those sales," Silver said.

The league and union began meeting last summer, and Stern said the sides had their most recent discussion in a small group this week. But they remain far apart on talks toward a new CBA, raising fears of a lockout next summer.

"I couldn't give you any listing numerically or in word form of progress," Stern said. "But there seems to be a mutual determination to push and probe and do and discuss, because there's an increasing understanding on both sides of what the risk of not making a deal entails, and that this is actually palpable, but not quantifiable. So we're very much engaged in it."