svetikya Chapter 236 Falk's Reckless Act! The New NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement
Chapter 236 Falk's Reckless Act! The New NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement
Chapter 236 Falk's Reckless Act! The NBA's New Collective Bargaining Agreement!
It was the next morning when Lin Tian and Theron left the room.
After discovering that the old man hated Americans, Theron pulled out her trump card: I'm South African, and I hate American devils too!
Upon hearing that Theron wasn't American, but rather an African brother—no, an African sister—the old man's attitude immediately underwent a complete 180-degree change!
After staying at home for another week, Lin Tianfei left the capital.
After traveling the world with Theron, when Lin Tian returned to Indiana alone, there were less than 10 days left until Christmas. In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the year.
Lin Tian really had a good vacation this time and completely relaxed.
"Are you going to Los Angeles?" Pelinka asked the burning question as soon as Lin Tian got into Pelinka's car.
"Why would I go to Los Angeles?" Lin Tian rolled his eyes.
"Alright, stop talking about me. Let's talk about the alliance. How did the talks go?" Lin Tian waved his hand, too lazy to say more, and quickly changed the subject.
"Not good, very bad." Pelinka shrugged. "Stern is going crazy. He keeps changing his expected restart date, from September to October, from October to Easter to Halloween, and most recently to Christmas, but obviously neither the players nor the owners are going to listen to him."
"As things stand, Falk's game in Las Vegas is already set for Christmas Eve, a Christmas Day game. It'll be a group of New Yorkers including Ewing, Oakley, and Houston, along with a whole bunch of Falk's guys, and he's also got that idiot Thaler involved."
"The two men have more than 60 NBA players under their wing, 16 of whom have been selected as NBA All-Stars, and they will all be attending this game."
"Although the game is ostensibly a charity match, anyone with common sense knows it's an ultimatum to the NBA and its owners. Once the game starts, relations between the two sides will completely collapse, and they'll sever all ties. As for what happens to the league afterward, who knows!"
"You really can't guess?" Lin Tian looked at Pelinka, he didn't believe that Pelinka had no idea about the future of the league.
"Okay, I reckon after this game, those bastards from the owners will be completely enraged, and then they'll definitely issue a formal ultimatum. Next, they'll start to divide the players' union, since very few of these NBA stars are good at managing money, and quite a few are short of cash!"
"After six months without income, many people are on the verge of bankruptcy. If Stern scares them a little more, negotiations will definitely restart soon, and the labor side will probably make a lot of concessions. As for Falk..."
Pelinka couldn't help but laugh at this point: "Once Jordan officially retires, his era will officially be over!"
"Currently, besides those veterans in their 30s, Falk only has Iverson and Marbury as young players with the potential to become stars. However, Marbury's relationship with Falk will definitely not last long, because Marbury believes he is no worse than Garnett and he also wants a $1.2 million contract."
"But no one will give him that amount. Even if those general managers are idiots, they won't waste money on him. However, Marbury certainly won't think it's because he's not good enough; he'll only resent Falk's lack of ability. The two will definitely have a falling out next summer!"
"As for Allen, I've been spending half my time with him lately, and we've been really close. His contract with Falk expires next summer, and if he joins my team then, Falk will officially only have a bunch of old guys left. Once those old guys retire, he'll be completely out of the NBA."
Looking at Pelinka's confident demeanor, Lin Tian couldn't help but ask, "How did your talks with the person I designated for you go? What percentage of shares will your new agency give me?"
"40%!" Pelinka sighed. "I don't know where you found this team, but they really got me wrapped up. They're amazing! With 40% of the shares, I can't even tell if this company is yours or mine anymore!"
Lin Tian ignored the guy trying to gain sympathy, because both Lin Tian and Pelinka knew that as long as Falk's charity game was successfully held, Falk would definitely be finished. In the future, the world of NBA agents, if not entirely Pelinka's, would certainly become one of the most powerful people!
The biggest winner of this charity match might just be that cunning old fox Pelinka.
……
On Christmas Eve, the highly anticipated game kicked off on time in a stadium in Las Vegas. More than 50 NBA players were present, including more than a dozen NBA All-Star level stars. Most importantly, nearly 1 spectators attended the game!
Unfortunately, for various reasons, no television station broadcast or rebroadcast the match, and apart from the fans at the stadium, no one else could see the full picture of the game.
Afterwards, some people said that the match was very exciting and full of sparks.
Some people say the game was incredibly boring, even less intense than a high school league.
But none of that matters.
Importantly, the day after the game ended, on Christmas Day, Stern issued an ultimatum: January 20th.
If the two sides cannot reach an agreement before January 20, Stern will no longer try to mediate the conflict or prepare for the resumption of the season. This season is over!
Stern's angry expression, cold eyes, and the information coming from those around him all pointed to one thing.
This time, Stern is serious!
To Falk's surprise, public opinion did not side with him this time. He had thought the fans would thank him for bringing high-level matches back to the public eye.
But the truth is that almost everyone is criticizing him, saying that while everyone is working hard to get the NBA back to normal and for the league to continue, he, as someone with a huge voice among the players, is not only not helping the league resume the games, but is making things worse by organizing these lousy games.
Of course, what angered the fans even more was that Falk had declared the match a charity game beforehand, but after the game, it was discovered that he had not donated any of the proceeds from the match, but had kept them all.
Feeling cheated, the fans immediately chanted the slogan "Get Falk out of the league."
In an instant, Falk became a pariah, hated by everyone.
Finally, under pressure and overwhelmed by public opinion, Falk announced that he had donated all the proceeds from the competition to a charity.
But it was too late; his reputation had already collapsed.
Whether this wave of anti-Falk movement was spontaneous from the fans or orchestrated by the investors or people like Pelinka behind the scenes is not important.
Importantly, Falk was thrown into disarray by the storm of public opinion, and he began to lose control of the league and his players.
More importantly, what happened next was exactly as Pelinka and Lin Tian had predicted.
The league began talking to the players separately, trying to divide them from within. After everyone had been without pay for six months, the players' desire to resume the season had become increasingly uncontrollable. They were short of money, they had nothing to do, they were worried that their lives would be ruined, and some were worried that they would go bankrupt.
In short, a sense of fear, worry, and helplessness permeated the hearts of most NBA players.
They are no longer as united as they were in June, and more and more people are calling for accelerated negotiations and for a quick and exciting game for the fans.
At the same time, this concern is not only prevalent among the players.
On the investors' side, internal strife also began to spread.
Big clubs like the Lakers, Knicks, and Bulls, which generate a lot of revenue, are eager for the games to resume as soon as possible. Some newly acquired teams, eager to make their mark, also have owners who are hoping for a return to play. Meanwhile, owners of smaller clubs are worried that if the league is simply put on hold, they will end up with nothing.
More importantly, the NBA has just signed a new massive $26 billion contract with TNT and NBC!
This contract was originally set to take effect in the 98-99 season. A large portion of the $26 billion would have gone into the pockets of the team owners. However, with the league now in a lockout and all business activities suspended, the two television stations naturally won't pay!
Although the owners won't go bankrupt or go out of business due to the shutdown, their losses are actually far greater than those of the players!
They lost a huge amount of real money!
In particular, after both labor and management confirmed that Stern's attitude was extremely tough this time and that this was truly an ultimatum, both sides began to panic.
Thus, with both sides increasingly eager to get things done and with Stern's mediation once again, the labor and management teams sat down at the negotiating table once more.
This time, both sides finally showed enough sincerity and stopped wasting their breath on those ridiculous terms.
The labor side voluntarily gave up ridiculous demands such as "player salaries should account for 63% of total revenue" from the outset, and the owners no longer demanded the cancellation of the Bird exception, accepting the soft salary cap.
It must be said that both sides showed sincerity from the outset, and the negotiations had a very good start.
But it was only a good start. For the next few dozen hours, the two sides continued to fight and argue fiercely at the negotiating table, engaging in an extremely intense struggle for interests and the right to speak!
Maximum salary clauses, minimum salary guarantees, contract length, Bird exception, rookie exception, contract extension clauses, salary cap, trade rules, player influence, owners' rights to use player image rights...
The two sides fought fiercely over the main points and differences of these negotiations, with neither side willing to give in. On several occasions, the representatives of the two sides almost came to blows right there at the negotiating table!
What you might imagine a high-level negotiation scene to be like: both sides are dressed in suits, their hair neatly styled, in one of Manhattan's best office buildings, with huge offices and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the entire city of New York. Both sides have a disdainful yet confident smile on their lips as they casually state their respective demands.
Then came the back-and-forth exchanges, the flashing swords, the witty remarks, and even the insults were full of creativity and elegance, giving people a sense of the maturity, composure, and strategic planning of these business tycoons!
The last person sneered, "Only 2000 million US dollars? I don't want it. It's not worth wasting so much of my time. Tonight I'm going to Paris with my dear Honey for supper. That's it."
Then both parties reached an agreement happily.
In the actual high-level negotiation scene: both sides' representatives were covered in sweat and oil, their hair was messy as if they hadn't washed it for a week, and all sorts of profanities like FUXX, SHXX, and BITXX were flying around. The whole room was filled with the pungent smell of smoke and cigarette ash.
双方代表为了底薪合同金额是70万还是70万5000元争得面红耳赤，顶薪球员为了合同起始金额是工资帽的25%还是26%恨不得拔出枪来射死对面的老闆。
The bosses, on the other hand, clung tightly to their 52% revenue share, unwilling to pay a single penny more. They were even more adamant about the specific calculation and amount of the salary cap, creating a tense atmosphere!
Finally, Stern couldn't take it anymore, slamming his fist on the table and yelling, "A bunch of sons of bitches! You bunch of damned misers! You have to come up with a reasonable solution tonight, or you're all fired this season! FUXX! I've had enough!"
Stern's roar effectively improved the efficiency of the negotiations, but it was clearly not enough to reach an agreement immediately. The two sides continued to wrangle for several days after Stern's words, until everyone was exhausted and looked disheveled, with bloodshot eyes, as if they had just played 15 overtime games.
But when Stern's lawyers read the new, hundreds-of-pages-long collective bargaining agreement aloud one last time, and neither side raised any further objections, the industry elites, who had been arguing vehemently for almost the entire second half of the year, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It's over! It's finally over!
At this moment, both sides actually felt a sense of relief, and even developed a strange feeling towards those bastards who had tried to blow their heads off just a few hours earlier.
"I brought champagne, shall we celebrate?" Ewing chewed gum, his voice hoarse. As the president of the players' union, he played a crucial role in this negotiation, although he knew absolutely nothing about legal provisions or sustainable development. If you asked him for his opinion on the contract terms, he would just yell, "Give me more money!"
But Ewing has a loud voice and swears vehemently. Whenever the two sides reach a stalemate and it comes down to cursing, Ewing will step forward without hesitation and show off the cursing skills he has honed over his more than ten years of professional career, so that the investors will really know how formidable he is.
So, after the entire negotiation, this guy's voice was the most severely damaged.
"Brilliant! I brought some too!" A representative from the company turned around, took out several bottles of champagne from his suitcase, and in an instant, the entire meeting room turned into a sea of joy!
Excitement! Everyone was genuinely excited at that moment!
As the commissioner of the NBA, Stern, who should be happiest at this time that his league is finally back, is not smiling at all.
Why is he laughing?
This season is destined to be only halfway through, and the All-Star Game will most likely be canceled. The reputation that the league has worked so hard to build among the public has not been completely destroyed, but it has certainly plummeted. In addition, from November to January, the league will not have any games or business activities for more than two months.
From branding, merchandise, tickets, traffic, broadcasting, collaborations, GG... and so on, the alliance has lost an unknown amount of money!
According to Stern's estimate, it would take at least five years for the league to recover what it lost during the half-season lockout.
Happy?
How could he be so happy?
He's happy for nothing!
Even at this point, Stern decided: the All-Star Game would be canceled this season! Are you guys kidding me?! I'm canceling the All-Star Game this year!
Since the alliance's reputation has already hit rock bottom, let's take this opportunity to give you guys a good thrashing and show you bastards that you'll never dare to back down from me again.
If it's too difficult, then let's not do anything at all!
With this in mind, and the prospect of properly disciplining these guys, Stern was determined to go all in and give both the employers and employees a good talking-to!
Two days later, the new labor agreement was made public, and countless professionals began to analyze and study the new version of the labor agreement. Commentators from all walks of life went online to discuss it, and major sports channels, after holding back for almost half a year, launched one program after another to analyze and review this shutdown.
In short, although the NBA has not officially announced its restart time and schedule, everyone has quickly gotten into the swing of things and started preparing for the new season.
Although everyone has different opinions and perspectives on the ins and outs of this shutdown, the grievances, and who is right and who is wrong, there is one thing that everyone agrees on!
After contract and agreement experts analyzed this version of the collective bargaining agreement, they gave it unanimous praise! Everyone called it perfect! It's practically flawless, an absolute milestone in North American sports history! Other major leagues should study it!
This version of the labor agreement maximizes the protection of the interests of both parties, finding a wonderful balance between their needs. It protects the interests of workers while allowing employers to profit, and at the same time, it ensures that the entire alliance can operate more smoothly and healthily!
Many people even feel that the shutdown is worthwhile, even just for this new version of the agreement.
This labor agreement mainly changes two major aspects: a stricter contract system and standardized contract templates, as well as a luxury tax system!
First, rookie players entering the league will sign more standardized and uniform contracts, namely a 2+2 contract for first-round picks, with the first two years fully guaranteed and the last two years being team options. This means that no matter how badly a rookie plays after entering the league, they can still get a million-dollar annual salary for two years.
At the same time, no matter how well he plays, if the team exercises its option, he will have to play as a rookie for four years. In order to avoid behaviors like O'Neal running away after his rookie contract expires, and to protect the interests of his original team, the league has added new identity labels such as restricted free agents and unrestricted free agents.
Of course, in order to protect the interests of the players, as long as the players stay with their parent team, they can sign contracts with higher amounts and longer terms!
In addition, the league has also stipulated strict maximum salary amounts and contract lengths. The "at-the-moment" contracts that Lin Tian, Garnett, and Jordan previously had, where teams would pay whatever amount or for whatever length they wanted, will completely disappear from history.
At the same time, while superstars have suffered some losses, the league has also provided more protection for minimum-salary and fringe players, significantly increasing minimum salaries to protect the interests of fringe players.
It also adds new contract types such as biennial exceptions, split mid-level exceptions, and veteran minimum salaries, allowing each team to make as many moves as possible above the salary cap.
Furthermore, the "Bird Rights" have been used extensively by the league, and terms such as "early bird," "veteran bird," and "non-bird" have officially entered the historical stage after this incident!
Well, most notably, the league also created the "Lin-Tian Rule" to protect the original teams and prevent second-round draft picks who suddenly make a name for themselves from leaving after achieving success because their original teams lack salary cap space and Bird rights.
This refers to the "Arenas Clause," which was originally scheduled to appear a few years later.
Simply put, this clause allows the original team to match all contracts offered by other teams to second-round picks!
This can be seen as protecting the interests of both the parent team and the players.
Lin Tian hadn't expected that he would be able to bring this clause into the alliance ahead of time and even name it after himself.
Of course, among these numerous and complex contract terms, totaling hundreds of pages, there are many intricate details and contents, but Lin Tian is too lazy to read them. He's not an agent, so Pelinka can handle that kind of work by burning the midnight oil. As for Lin Tian...
All they need to do is wait until the contract expires in six years and ask Pelinka, "How can I get the most money?"
That's it!
happy!
Besides the almost completely revamped contract, another noteworthy and significant change in the new agreement is undoubtedly the introduction of a luxury tax!
The so-called luxury tax is a system where, once a team's total salary reaches a certain threshold, for every penny exceeding that threshold, the team must pay the same amount to the league. At the end of the season, the league will take this money and distribute it equally among all the teams that did not pay the luxury tax.
You could say it's another case of the wool coming from the sheep's back!
Do you want to build a super team, compete for the championship, and force everyone on the team to stay?
No problem, pay up!
The introduction of this system has delighted many smaller teams, as it provides an extra bonus every year. Who wouldn't like that?
Of course, teams with deep pockets are also quite happy about this clause! For example, James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks, who has only been in charge for less than two years and is ready to show his skills and impress the whole league!
This guy and his family have nothing but a lot of US dollars!
For him, spending money can solve problems and make him stronger, so he has to spend a lot of money!
Make him happy by spending money!
Of course, with a luxury tax, there must also be a poverty tax. This is a reverse luxury tax, used to punish teams that are too stingy. If their players' salaries don't reach a certain level each year, they have to pay out money. However, this time, instead of distributing it to other teams, the money will be given directly to their own players!
Of course, the league won't rush to implement either a luxury tax or a poverty line.
Three years. It will be three years before the league implements these two measures. Before that, each team will have ample time to restructure its salary cap and resolve its own issues.
In short, all sorts of new terms and conditions have been implemented, and all sorts of new contract templates have been put into use. The entire alliance is thriving!
Now, everyone is certain that the 98-99 season is about to begin!
I'm having writer's block, and writing isn't going smoothly. I was planning to do some smut, but yesterday's experience scared me off... Sigh... I'll resume updating around 10,000 words tomorrow!
(End of this chapter)