A blueprint for future NBA bargaining?

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | David Stern has challenged the Women's National Basketball Association players to come up with a new collective bargaining agreement by April 18 or he will shut down the season.

WNBA players want pay raises and free agency. The NBA has lost money on the endeavor and wants to hold the salaries down and that's where the negotiations stand. But don't think Stern's challenge is just for WNBA consumption only.

The same people negotiating for the both the NBA and the WNBA players will be back at the table when the NBA players and owners contract ends either in 2004 or 2005.

Stern will want to hold down salaries, impose an age minimum for those entering the NBA and look for givebacks. Stern will have options. ESPN will not only pay NBA rights fees if the clubs lockout their players, but will also cablecast replacement games.

Cable subscribers money could be going to support a labor lockout. Those negotiations may be separate from the WNBA negotiations but are related and could be a blueprint for future NBA bargaining.

Appreciate this writer's work? Why not sign-up for JWR's daily update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Evan Weiner is a radio commentator on "The Business of Sports" for Westwood One's Metro Networks. He is being presented with the United States Sports Academy's Distinguished Service Award for 2003. Comment on this column by clicking here.

04/08/03: How sports owners and cable sports networks can help jumpstart the economy
04/07/03: Will Pound get the straight dope on athlete druggies?
04/04/03: Will sports industry suffer now that states are prioritizing funding?
04/03/03: I'll pass on the life of a college basketball player
04/02/03: Time to fix the cable TV sports model
04/01/03: Sportsworld to get its own 'Enron'?
03/31/03: When $ports helps close public educational institutions
03/28/03: Baseball already striking out
03/26/03: NFL giving administration a big boost --- but don't credit them with being patriotic
03/20/03: Guardians of college basketball question your competence with a remote
03/19/03: Sports should be stopped because of war?
03/18/03: The madness needs to be cured
03/17/03: Not exactly the kind of news baseball wants
03/14/03: Keep the pols' paws off my cable TV bill!
03/13/03: In sports, 'free' is usually expensive
03/11/03: War on sports?
03/10/03: Sen. McCain, here's one more sports issue to take up
03/07/03: Playing the $tadium game --- and $coring
03/06/03: NBA should study history before wa$ting tax payer re$ource$
03/05/03: Baseball may no longer be very, very good to Ruppert Murdoch
03/04/03: At Augusta, the real fun and games will not be on the course
02/28/03: Will sports world soon be awaken to war realities?
02/27/03: Is baseball just a game like every other, after all?
02/26/03: He wasn't a player, manager or an owner, but he belongs in Cooperstown
02/25/03: States lining up to protect "college athletes' rights'"?
02/24/03: Why Gov. Ed Rendell is more important to the Pittsburgh Penguins' future than its owner
02/21/03: Tyson is living proof that both Mencken and Barnum were both right and Warhol was wrong
02/20/03: An endless season
02/19/03: The bills have come due
02/18/03: The world may be falling apart ... but American baseball teams are more popular than ever overseas
02/14/03: Adding jocks to the state's payrolls
02/13/03: How can the financially struggling Cablevision bail out another NHL franchise?
02/12/03: Selig is undermining sports franchises
02/11/03: Politicians and business leaders want to join a business that admits it's failing financially
02/10/03: Hold the pols responsible for rate hikes!
02/07/03: Judge a team's future by journalist's job?
02/05/03: College Sports and priorities
02/04/03: While corporate America parties, one wonders about the world's largest communications company and its future
02/03/03: High schooler picked the wrong $port to excel at
01/31/03: Gaming and games
01/30/03: The NHL's game plan
01/29/03: The moral guardians of basketball need some schooling themselves
01/24/03: America's excuse for a party
01/22/03: Turning San Diego into an armed camp
01/22/03: Will San Diego lose on Sunday --- even if it wins?