NBA Meeting Scheduled For Wednesday, Obama Weighs In
An impromptu meeting was called Wednesday after news reports indicated two more weeks of the regular NBA season would be canceled.
The Associated Press reported the details of the meeting are private; however, small groups from each side of the negotiation table would be present. David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, would also be present, since he missed the last moving that ended without a successful agreement.
Last week, after 30 hours of talks in three days, it seemed the league would not schedule another meeting in the near future. Adam Silver, deputy NBA commissioner, told the media that there were no plans to speak about the negotiations.
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"Ultimately, we were unable to bridge the gap that separates the two parties," said Silver after last Thursday's meeting. "At this time, we have no further discussions scheduled with the union."
The failed negotiations brought attention to the players, owners and even the President of the United States. On a recent Jay Leno, appearance, President Barack Obama spoke about his concern for the NBA lockout.
"I'm concerned about it," Obama said. "I think they need to just remind themselves that the reason they are so successful is because a whole bunch of folks out there love basketball."
The President spoke about the repercussions of the lockout if players and owners could not reach an agreement.
"You know, basketball has actually done well, but these kinds of lockouts a lot of times take a long time to recover from them," Obama told Leno.
Although NBA.com reports that some issues have been worked through, one of the biggest issues still left on the table is the split of basketball-related income, in which the players and owners are an estimated $100 million away from an agreement.
