On This Date in Sports January 7, 1999: Season Saver
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
The NBA’s first labor war comes to an end, as the players and owners agree on a new six-year Collective Bargaining Agreement, saving the remainder of the 1998/99 season, that David Stern threatened to cancel. This was the NBA’s third lockout in four seasons, with the other two occurring in the off-season and not affecting any games. The new deal helped owners get control of escalating salaries.
The NBA was the last of the four major sports leagues to experience major labor strife. While the NFL had two in-season strikes in 1982 and 1987, the NHL had an extensive lockout in 1994 and the long history of baseball labor including the lost 1994 postseason, the NBA had a long period of labor peace. That tranquility began to erode as baseball and hockey were ending their labor wars. The NBA and players association first lockout saw them battle in the off-season as summer leagues and the free agency signing period was disrupted in 1995. However, before the season was placed in peril, the players and owners reached an agreement on a six-year that the league could opt out of after three years.
By 1995, the NBA Players had some of the richest deals in all of professional sports. While past deals came without much worry the new CBA took effort as owners locked the players out. Since the move came in the off-season fans did not see a loss of any games, just a freeze on off-season moves and the loss of the summer league. Eventually, the sides would reach a six-year deal, but owners had the option of reopening the contract if salaries eclipsed 50% of revenues after three seasons. The new deal was an uneasy one as the issues were not settled, as a brief one-day lockout interrupted the 1996 off-season in a dispute over television money.
By 1998, player salaries had reached 57% by 1998, leading owners to vote to re-open the deal by a 27-2 margin, as 15 teams claimed they were losing money. In the NBA Players’ Association disputed the claim as the two sides dug in for a long battle. Unlike 1995, the labor strife extended past the summer months, as the NBA canceled plans to send players to the 1998 FIBA World Championships. The Americans would finish third in the tournament playing with non-NBA players.
The lockout dragged on the entire off-season as nothing was settled by the time training camps started. In fact, players and owners seemed even further apart as owners walked out of a negating session after the players suggested greater revenue sharing to help the struggling owners. The battle wiped out the entire preseason and was not settled by the scheduled start of the season. As the more and more games were lost it was becoming clear the entire season could be in peril, as the first two months were wiped out including the NBA’s showcase games on Christmas.
As 1999 arrived the season was in jeopardy as Commissioner David Stern announced that he would pull the plug if no settlement was reached by January 7th. With the threat of losing the season, players to split, from the union. This led influential agent David Faulk to get involved in the final negotiations. With player not wanting to lose the season, Bill Hunter the Union Leader agreed to a deal, giving the owners most of what they wanted as individual salaries were now capped pending on how long they were in the league. It also introduced a rookie pay scale, while introducing a luxury tax for teams over the salary cap. A reduced 50-game season would begin on February 5th, with the All-Star Game in Philadelphia also falling victim to the lockout.
