Tag: strike

Report: Thunder among NBA teams that voted to continue playing

The Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers reportedly voted to not continue playing, while the other NBA teams voted to resume the playoffs.

After the strike on Wednesday in which the six NBA teams scheduled to play boycotted the games, players inside the bubble met to discuss how to proceed.

Among the results of the meeting: The Oklahoma City Thunder were one of the teams that voted to continue playing, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Every team still inside the bubble except the Los Angeles teams, the Lakers and Clippers, voted to continue playing.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers’ and Clippers’ votes to not continue playing the season was “more of a polling, than a final vote” and that playoff resumption “remains still up in the air.”

Wojnarowski also tweeted that discussions will continue Thursday and that it is unlikely the games scheduled that day will take place.

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that his source said players felt like they did not accomplish much in the meeting and that there is a “feeling of ‘uncertainty'” going into the night.

The Board of Governors are scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. Thursday.

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The strike was prompted by the Sunday incident in Kenosha, Wisconsin in which Jacob Black, a Black man, was shot in the back seven times by a police officer as he opened the door to his car.

The police had been responding to a domestic violence call. Blake’s family told ABC Chicago that Blake had gotten out of the car to try to break up the fight. Video shows police following him with their guns out as he walked back to his car, and after Blake opened the door, he was shot several times.

The Milwaukee Bucks, whose home stadium is less than an hour north of Kenosha, were the first NBA team to decide to strike. Their opponent, the Orlando Magic, joined in as game time approached.

Both the Bucks and Magic were among teams that voted to continue the season, according to Charania.

The Thunder and Houston Rockets were scheduled to play after them, but those two teams decide to strike as well. The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers shortly followed suit.

Not long after, the NBA announced all games had been postponed, meaning there would be no forfeits.

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There could be possible NFL labor peace in our time

Last offseason and through the 2019 regular season there was some talk about the upcoming CBA negotiations. The NFLPA was telling players to start stashing away checks in case of a prolonged work stoppage. The league was pushing for an increase in …

Last offseason and through the 2019 regular season there was some talk about the upcoming CBA negotiations. The NFLPA was telling players to start stashing away checks in case of a prolonged work stoppage. The league was pushing for an increase in regular-season games and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. There was serious commentary about a work stoppage and since we already saw one — well kind of — in the last round of negotiations, there was a possibility we could end up without football. That would be sad.

Now, for the good news: no one seems to want to kill the goose that’s laying the golden eggs. There is some serious momentum that not only will there be no work stoppage, but that the NFL and NFLPA could come to an agreement before the CBA even expires.

There’s no way to look at other than this is good news. The owners and players understand that the quicker they can come to a deal, the quicker they can get down to real business, like dominating negotiations with streaming partners and traditional content distributors. Basically, the goal is to rake in money hand over fist and then make sure it’s distributed based on a negotiated percentage outlined in the CBA.

The deal is rumored to run from 2020 until after the 2029 season. That’s 10 years of labor peace. That’s a good deal. For 10 years we won’t have to worry about lockouts, strikes, and no football. We will get a new NFL, one that probably hasn’t 17 games and an expanded playoff. Players will know that for the foreseeable future, they will be able to use their enormous skills and talent to make money. The owners will be even happier because they will be able to negotiate with television partners, focus on the upcoming gambling revolution, and make a ton more money because that’s what happens when you own a football team. The league should see a jump in franchise valuation because that’s what happens when there are labor peace and certainty.

So let’s hope this momentum holds. No one likes hearing about work stoppages. It’s an ugly part of the game. No fan wants to think that there might not be football next year. We already miss it now.

NFLPA head seeks unity as expanded schedule, playoffs reach forefront of CBA talks

The head of the players’ union warns that “a two-year strike” may be required for NFL players to get what they want from owners.

The enormity of the NFL empire is never more obvious than Super Bowl Week. But buried within the star-studded parties and celebratory events hyping Sunday’s big game in Miami, there is a meeting scheduled that could have serious repercussions on the future of the sport, possibly bringing it all to an abrupt halt with a total shutdown of the league.

Player representatives are set to meet with NFL Players Association leaders on Thursday for an update on the union’s efforts to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with league owners. According to an ESPN report from Dan Graziano, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith says he is planning to tell players that “if they want to dig in their heels on any one issue — including the owners’ push for an expanded, 17-game regular season — they have to be willing to take it all the way.”

That could very well mean an NFL strike before the 2021 season.

“People need to understand that it’s really easy to call for a work stoppage; it’s really hard to win one,” Smith told reporters in Miami. “So that’s why I started notifying players four years ago about saving their checks, making changes to their debt structure, and the reality is that if we want to hold out and get everything we want, that’s probably going to mean a two-year strike.”

While the owners’ desire for a 17-game regular season will be a significant item on the docket in a new CBA, expanded playoffs and a shortened preseason are also up for debate. Further topics to be hashed out likely include changes to the league’s drug and discipline policies, improved benefits for current and retired players, changes to training camp rules, and ultimately, the percentage of revenue players would agree to receive.

Smith will meet this week with player reps from the 30 teams not playing in Super Bowl LIV. The meeting is not expected to feature a vote on any issues, but as Graziano points out, “the union hopes that everyone comes out of it with some idea of where things stand and what kind of action the players want to take going forward.”

Both sides know that “a two-year strike,” as referenced by Smith, would be catastrophic to the league and permanently alienate scores of advertisers, broadcasters, and fans worldwide.

The next key moment for movement will be the NFLPA’s anual meeting, held in Florida in March. Cornerback Byron Jones is the Cowboys’ current representative; offensive lineman Joe Looney is the alternate. Both are free agents this offseason.

The current CBA expires in March 2021; ongoing negotiations would not affect the next NFL season or postseason. But, Graziano says, “there are portions of the new deal that would benefit the players if they were in place in time for the 2020 season.”

There is still plenty of time for the two sides to come to an agreement that benefits everyone, and the pomp and circumstance surrounding Sunday’s Super Bowl- the culmination of the league’s centennial anniversary- should serve as good reminders to both players and owners that the NFL pie is plenty big enough for everyone to get a fair slice.

But it’s Smith’s job to remind players that they also need to be prepared to get up and leave the table- for the first time since 1987- if it comes to that.

“The job of the union is to engage in good-faith negotiations, make sure that our players are informed, but at no time take it for granted that what is really needed is the ability of players to withstand a work stoppage and win it so that they come out of it better than before they went into it,” Smith said. “And if we are prepared to do that, and the players vote to take that action, we’ll be fine. But anything less than being fully prepared is wishful thinking, and perhaps cheap and dangerous talk.”

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