Report: First Post-Lockout Meeting to Be Held Next Week

NBA players, owners, and a gang of lawyers will reportedly meet next week to see if any headway can be made in this lockout. From SI: “[The meeting] could take place as early as Monday, depending on how the schedules of a few key figures shake out, according to one of the sources. Staff members from each side, including some top officials, have met twice since the lockout took effect on July 1 to finalize the 2010-11 basketball-related income figure, discuss possible structures for a new salary cap and schedule future meetings. But those sessions have not involved several key players, including NBA commissioner David Stern, union executive director Billy Hunter and top outside counsel for both sides. Experts consider the two sides to be far apart in a dispute that centers on how the league should split revenues with players. Under the just-expired collective bargaining agreement, players were guaranteed 57 percent of all basketball-related income, and the league recently had to fork over $162 million in escrow funds and an additional $26 million to make sure player salaries for the 2010-11 hit that mark. League officials have claimed that the 57 percent figure is too high, and that 22 of the league’s 30 teams have lost money over the last two years as a result of player salaries and rising expenses. Just before the lockout went into effect, players offered to accept a shade more than 54 percent of BRI, but that was not enough of a compromise for the league and its owners.”