NBA looking for NFL-type resolution in same Court

In apparent forum shopping, the NBA players refiled their federal antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota, seeking a settlement conference following the very same pattern of the NFL lockout. In the judge-directed mediation conducted by Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan over several sessions with the NFL, full litigation was avoided and football season was saved. Billy Hunter is now telling NBA fans not to give up and to put pressure on the players and owners, though there has been no contact between the parties since talks broke off upon the NBA players' union dissolving. My earlier entry reported on the impasse that resulted from mediator George Cohen's efforts. See story here: http://nyp.st/tyOiK2

NBA Tuesday - Perhaps these guys could just mediate?

Today's NBA lockout negotiations are expected to decide whether games will be lost this season and just how many. The path to sports labor peace leads to the bargaining table, not to a courthouse. Rather than a protracted court battle between owners and the players' union, nasty internal strife, not to mention no professional basketball (e.g., here in a town with the star center in his last contract year, playing in a new arena that was promised hosting an all-star game), the parties should mediate, just as the NFL did. http://bit.ly/prn2JT Last month, NBA players' union members were worried enough about the possibility of agents pushing decertification that they had DeMaurice Smith of the NFL Players Association to speak to locked out basketballers about the pros and cons of dissolving a union, giving some background on what it was like with his players going through the lockout. http://goo.gl/ueY3p Through negotiations and judge-directed mediation sessions, footballers and owners bargained before the NFL players' union suffered any judicial setback in the Brady v. NFL antitrust case, or worse-- if they won the case. Such a loss would have crippled the union's decertification threat in the future. A union win could have prohibited teams from collaborating on contracts. http://tinyurl.com/3qn89ao Another incentive to settle the matter now is that public opinion of sports leagues has bordered on critical in recent years; though die-hard fans will endure. Avoiding the surely negative effect of these monetary disputes as early as possible (especially in this down economy) may stop harm to morale and can be achieved in a less public way though the mediation process.

Potential for Mediation in NBA dispute - will it go any better than NFL?

The professional basketball players' union filed a complaint with the federal government’s National Labor Relations Board accusing the league of bargaining in bad faith. Typically, a ruling can take 30-60 days. NBA owners are accused of “circus bargaining” or never substantively changing offers during negotiations.

In football, NFLPA elected to de-certify so that its players are no longer part of a union and thus the NFL has no right to carry on a lockout without violating anti-trust laws. That case is in the hands of the Eighth Circuit. That appellate court may rule that the players’ de-certification is little more than a bargaining tactic.

No mediation has been set in the NBA matter. However, in the NFL case, the district judge-directed mediation by a federal magistrate judge came with many marathon conferences, but did not yield a settlement. The parties are currently supposedly engaged in direct talks, perhaps signaling that process was not thought to be as productive. Certainly, the NBA will be watching the NFL and only fans stand to lose.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2011-06-29/labor-expert-outlines-legal-issues-around-lockout