Nba lockout

END OF THE NBA LOCKOUT

Meaning

Firstly, I have to explain what the NBA and the lockout consist of. The NBA is the main league of basketball that is played in the United States and Canada and the most important league around the world of basketball. Each one of the 30 teams which play in the league plays 82 in the regular season. The league is divided into two big groups offifteen teams, these groups are called conferences and these are established because of the area in the continent that the team belongs to, so there is a western conference and an eastern one. At the end of the 82 games, the eight first of each conference goes into the playoffs to dispute firstly the title for the conference and then the title for the league against a team of the other conference.Background

More or less, we have understood the main facts of the NBA. Now, I have to explain what the lockout in the NBA consist of. Every year the teams re-sign a contract with the NBPA, the National Basketball Players’ Association, the syndicate of the players which is in charge of signing the collective bargaining that establishes wage scales, working hours, training periods,health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms and rights to participate in workplaces. But last year 22 of the 30 team owners assured they were losing wealth and they wouldn’t re-sign the contract any more until they reach another agreement. These is a lockout, players doesn’t work for the teams anymore and teams retire all the facilities for the players like medical services, the access to thegyms or NBA courts, all these things, in addition to their salaries which gets frozen, they aren’t paid.

There have been 4 lockouts in the NBA history:

• In 1995- 1996 season there was one which hadn’t been significant on the season because it just lasted from July to September. It just removed the summer leagues of the teams.

• In 1996-1997 season there was another onewhich lasted just two hours.
• In 1998-1999 season there was another which was the most significant in the NBA history. It lasted from July to January in the following year.
• And the lockout of this year, the 2011-2012 season which has lasted from July to earlier this month.



NBA lockout development

On July 1st this year the fourth lockout in the NBAhistory started. Adam Silver the NBA Deputy Commissioner said that the expiring collective bargaining agreement has created a broken system that has produced huge financial losses for the teams. He also said that they needed a sustainable business model that allowed all 30 teams to be able to compete for a championship, fairly compensated the players and provided teams with an opportunity to beprofitable. Meetings between the players, represented by Derek Fisher, and the owners were held without solutions that convinced both sides. On September 23rd cancellations started: training camps and 43 preseason games were postponed. Later, on October 4th they didn’t reach any conclusions and the rest of the preseason was cancelled. On October 10th they suspended the two first weeks of the season.Then, the 50-50 split of the budget for each side was very discussed because the NBA would make drastic moves against the players by setting the 53-47 split for the owners. The NBPA rejected the offer on November 9 and asked for another bargaining session which lasted two days. In this bargaining session the owners launched his last offer and it was expected a 72-game season to start in mid December.The players rejected it and dissolved the union to report the league by themselves. On November 15th they filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA in California and in Minnesota. Later, on 21st they left the California lawsuit to merge with the California lawsuit. After the courts, on November 26, a tentative deal was reached, the NBPA reunited again and settlement came. They made a new CBA...