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What is a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is a contract jointly formulated by the league and the players union. It stipulates the regulations that both parties must abide by, including operating regulations such as salary space, salary cap, base salary, team transfer rules, draft procedures, and luxury tax. .
Among them, the league, that is, the employer is composed of 30 team owners and official representatives, and the labor representative is the players union.
The main goal of the collective bargaining agreement is to prevent the NBA from violating antitrust laws. To put it simply, it is a bit like implementing socialism, safeguarding labor rights, using salary caps to limit wealthy teams, and draft compensation for the weak, etc.
Further reading:Hold your thighs and be honest to the end! Three major reasons for the rampant NBA super teams
It is rumored that the latest version of the collective bargaining agreement negotiations will also discuss lowering the minimum age limit for draft players from 19 to 18 years old, which means that high school students are expected to be directly promoted to the NBA again.
The History of the Collective Bargaining Agreement
The NBA Players Association was established in 1954 and was officially certified by the NBA in 1957. However, in 1964, the NBA, because the interests of the players were not protected and the status of the players union was not recognized, the then union president Thomas Heinsohn called on the players to strike the All-Star Game, successfully forcing the league to negotiate with it.
The NBA began to formulate the original labor agreement in 1970, which was the first time among the four major professional sports in the United States (NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL) to have such labor negotiations.
In 1976, because the league did not allow Spencer Haywood, who had not graduated from college, to play in the NBA, then union president Paul Silas called on the players to strike and march in the streets. He also filed a lawsuit in court, eventually forcing the league to reach a new labor agreement.
In 1994, labor and management failed to reach an agreement on the hard salary cap and contract length and closed the club. Later, both parties took a step back and reached an agreement.
In 1998, the school was closed again due to the hard salary cap and minimum salary.
In 2011, the NBA was closed due to more complicated interest disputes. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement also introduced the concept of a salary cap for the first time in mid-2011, which eventually turned into a shortened season of 66 games.
How long is the contract period of the collective bargaining agreement?
Generally speaking, the term of a labor agreement is about 5-6 years. For example, the CBA that took effect in 2017 will end in June 2024. Both parties have a one-year option at the end, as long as either party notifies the other party before December 15, 2022. You can terminate the agreement early.
What is closure?
However, under certain special circumstances, for example, when the average salary of NBA players is lower than that of the other three major leagues, or the CBA terms are not approved by the court, the CBA will be terminated early. In the past, in 1999 and 2011, the NBA had a shutdown that turned into a shortened season because the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the details of the CBA before the start of the season.
During the NBA lockdown, all player transactions and free agent signings were suspended; during the lockdown, players not only had no access to coaches, training staff or facilities, but were also forced to handle medical insurance and other related matters on their own. However, the closure of the stadium will not affect the players’ business activities. NBA venue staff may be forced to reduce their working hours during the closure period, and full-time employees may become part-time workers, resulting in a reduction in income and affecting the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people.
There are several famous closures in the NBA:
Closed in 1998
In 1998, the league was once again closed due to the hard salary cap and minimum salary. At that time, the league president David Stern took a tough stance, labor negotiations broke down, and the league began to shut down. The lockout lasted from July 1, 1998 to January 20, 1999. This also resulted in each team playing only 50 games in the 1998-1999 season. The former All-Star Game was also suspended because of this, and some teams did not even play against each other. .
Due to the failure of labor negotiations before the start of the game, which resulted in a 204-day closure, the union and the NBA, led by then-President Patrick Ewing and Chief Executive Billy Hunter, finally reached an agreement and signed a contract that expired on June 30, 2005. period of collective bargaining agreement. Before the expiration in June 2005, the two parties reached a consensus again and updated the agreement to June 2011, ensuring that players receive 57%BRI (Basketball Relative Income, referred to as BRI).
The season did not officially start until February 5, 1999, making it the first season in NBA history to span two years.
Closed in 2011
The main reasons why the labor negotiations broke down in 2011 were quite complicated, including a lack of revenue caused by the economic crisis, especially for small city teams. At that time, the Thunder had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, but could not pay salaries to retain them.
Derek Fisher took over as president of the players union in 2011 and began lengthy negotiations with NBA authorities. The league authorities claimed that 22 of the 30 teams were losing money, and the main demand was to reduce the BRI to no more than 45%, which means that the average salary of players will drop by about 21%, and to add a salary cap and reduce the length of the contract.
Players with such a large bargaining price will of course jump at the chance, especially since most role players hope to get stable long-term contracts. Reducing the length and salary will definitely have a huge impact. The stalemate between labor and management lasted for 310 days. It has to be mentioned that Michael Jordan, the first generation flying star, is the owner of the Hornets at this time. This time he stands with the owner instead of the players.
Many players have gone to play overseas. Tony Parker returned to play in France, Deron Williams joined the Turkish team, and Kenyon Martin joined the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of China.
In the end, both sides took a step back, and BRI and the contract players made a lot of concessions before ending this closure.
Closing the stadium is a lose-lose situation for the team and the players. According to research, the closure of the stadium in 2011 caused the loss of nearly 80% of fans, and the NBA also spent a lot of time to get fans to return.
