NBA Players File Antitrust Lawsuits Against League

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By BRIAN MAHONEY

NEW YORK (AP) - Locked-out NBA players including Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant filed class-action antitrust lawsuits against the league on Tuesday in at least two states, saying David Stern's ultimatums left them no other choice.

Attorney David Boies, who represented the NFL during that sport's work stoppage and now has been brought aboard by basketball's players, said the NBA lockout violates antitrust laws by refusing to allow players to work.

Boies added that Stern's ultimatum to the now-disbanded union to accept the owners' last economic model or face a harsher proposal "turned out to be a mistake" that strengthens the players' case because it proves that the collective bargaining process had ended.

"If you're in a poker game, and you run a bluff, and the bluff works, you're a hero. If someone calls your bluff, you lose. I think the owners overplayed their hand," Boies said at the players' association headquarters. "They did a terrific job of taking a very hard line and pushing the players to make concession after concession after concession, but greed is not only a terrible thing - it's a dangerous thing."

Read more: http://sports.excite.com/news/11152011/v9461.html

[HDPaulG]

1. Who care's about NBA?

College basketball more interesting...Let it fester and die...

[lbrtbell]

12. It's about unions, not the NBA

Union busting is union busting, no matter what the financial stakes are.

P.S. - College basketball sucks.

[SoapBox]

2. Both sides...spoiled brats...

Millions and millions and millions of dollars at stake.

And these brats cannot come to a decision.

Call the whole thing DOA.

[popsicle ricky]

3. A union is locked out from work,

Don't our standards and philosophy demand that we support the workers?

Please don't say, "They make too much." That's what the factory owmers say abot us.

[davidthegnome]

4. I don't know about you

But they are making millions of dollars. What can you call that but too much?

[Omaha Steve]

5. And what do you call what the owners make?

[titaniumsalute]

6. This is an issue I see both sides on

I do agree that the players union IS a union and should fight for the right of the players. But I have very little empathy towards extremely wealthy people who want to be even more wealthy to play basketball. We have millions of unemployed, homeless and starving in this country. If Kobe or Lebron don't make an extra mill this year I'm OK with that.

[davidthegnome]

8. Also too much

[Big_Mike]

13. The player and owners currently split revenue 50-50

Now the players want more than half. Uh, this is just plain simple greed.

Screw them.

NHL for me.

[KamaAina]

15. Actually, it's 53-47

the owners were offering 50-50, then backed away from even that. Hence, the decertification and lawsuits.

[LanternWaste]

11. I imagine that quite often when we say, "they make too much",

I imagine that quite often when we say, "they make too much", it's simply another way of saying "I don't make enough".

Which is I believe, part and parcel of the raison d'etre of Unions-- to better ensure a living and accommodating wage. :shrug:

[Exultant Democracy]

7. I don't give a crap about basketball, but I'm also amazed that more people don't support the union

but I think the players union needs to take things up a notch and just walk away. Find new venues and start over with a combo of, player employee and owned teams with a co-op feature for fans who want to buy in.

[gratuitous]

9. Indeed

And remember, folks, that the players were perfectly willing to abide by the terms of the contract they had signed with the owners. It was the owners who decided they weren't making enough money, or they hadn't hired sharp enough lawyers, or otherwise had gotten the short end of the stick. So they padlocked the arena doors, sat down at center court, and started pouting about not making enough money off the players' efforts.

Yeah, the workers are making a shitload of money. They also work in an industry that makes shitloads of money for a very limited number of people (players, coaches, trainers, office staff, etc.). They get a lot of money because there's a lot of money generated by the industry.

[AngryAmish]

10. Someone has to organize a rival league

See if you can rent NBA venues...when they are blocked then see the antitrust lawsuits.

[KamaAina]

16. I'd thought of that

using non-NBA venues like the Shark Tank in San Jose, Allstate Arena in Rosemont, and the Meadowlands arena, as well as non-NBA cities like Seattle, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

[ellisonz]

14. The NFL decertified. The NBA appears to be heading down that path...

Good Job Derek Fisher! :sarcasm: