Despite missing Commissioner David Stern’s deadline of midnight on Wednesday to reach a new deal, the negotiation between the National Basketball Player’s Association and the National Basketball league seems to be coming to an end.
The players and owners have finally arrived at an agreement on the most contentious issue of the debates, the split of Basketball Related Income, or BRI. For the duration of the next contract between the two sides, the BRI will be split evenly down the middle, according to Yahoo Sports. Under the previous contract, the players received 57 % of the income.
The two sides now only have minor issues to work out and hope to reach an agreement to end the lockout by the end of this coming weekend, according to ESPN.
If an agreement is reached in the near future, Player’s Association Executive Director Billy Hunter, Association president Derek Fisher and Commissioner Stern all agreed that a full 82 game season may be possible. All three warned fans during their press conferences that there are still a lot of wrinkles to be worked out, however.
The first two weeks of the season have already been canceled, but scheduling changes could be changed to feature less days off between games in order to fit all the games into the schedule. During the NBA’s last lockout, in 1998 and 1999, the league played 50 game schedules despite not beginning the season until February 5.
Fans, at this point, are mostly just happy at the prospect of any games at all.
“Oh man, if we can get a full season in, I’ll forget all the hatred I’ve been spewing at all these guys for doing nothing for the past few months. I feel passionately about this stuff, but mostly I just want to see some basketball being played on the court,” said junior finance major Jeffrey Kwok.
“The NBA is gonna be back, baby! The business aspects of the game are a necessary evil, I guess, but mostly I just want to be able to turn on the television and watch some ball,” said junior engineering major Ravi Sharma