NBA: Talks resume with season at risk

NEW YORK—NBA players and team owners returned to the bargaining table on Saturday amid talk of hardline positions on both sides putting the already-shortened 2011-2012 season at risk of being called off.

Club owners met in the morning to consider the state of talks before meeting with players. Federal mediator George Cohen joined them as both sides tried to divide $4 billion in annual income and halt a lockout in its 128th day.

The owners have offered a 50-50 split while players, who made 57 percent in the contract that expired July 1, have been unwilling to accept less than 52.5 percent, resulting in a $100 million annual income gap that has stalled talks.

NBA commissioner David Stern has called off all scheduled November games and with a month needed between a final deal and an opening tip-off, even more games are likely lost before superstars resume their slam dunks and 3-pointers.

Billionaire owners claim 22 of 30 clubs lost money last season at a total cost of $300 million and seek salary cuts as well as a firm salary cap that they say would help promote parity.

Players say their proposal has already provided owners with enough money to avoid losses and they want to keep an exception-filled salary cap system, trying to maximize money for average players as well as stars even after cuts.

Reports of division among owners and players surfaced after talks broke off last week, each side having potential moves to try and gain a negotiating edge.

Some players have looked into decertifying the union, a move that would push the stalemate into the US courts and likely ensure a full wipeout of the NBA season simply because of the length of time it would take in the legal system.

NBA owners have threatened to seek a court ruling that would void all current NBA player contracts if the union is decertified, although the move would allow players to file an anti-trust lawsuit against the league.

In an American football lockout earlier this year, NFL players went to court to have the shutdown halted and won a brief victory before an appeals court overturned the ruling.

After 5 1/2 months of moves during the usual off-season, NFL owners and players settled with only one exhibition game lost, although their fight to divide $9.1 billion was easier because neither side was saddled with losses.

To decertify the NBA union, 30 percent of the NBA’s 439 players must sign a petition to do so, setting up a vote among all players in which a majority would have to agree to the move.

Some NBA owners have reportedly said they want to pull back a 50-50 split offer in favor of a 53-47 split in their favor with a hard salary cap, a retreat that could spell doom for staging even a truncated NBA campaign.

The National Hockey League lost the entire 2004-2005 season in a revenue dispute that ended with owners largely imposing the measures they wanted when play resumed, a fact not lost on some NBA club owners who were in the NHL feud.