Brian Damage
10-24-2010, 10:42 AM
NBA Commissioner David Stern said Friday he thinks eliminating teams will be on the table during collective bargaining as a way to solve the league's financial woes.
''It's a sensitive subject for me because I've spent 27 years in this job working very hard not only to maintain all of our teams, but along the way add a few,'' Stern said during his preseason conference call.
''But I think that's a subject that will be on the table with the players as we look to see what's the optimum way to present our game, and are there cities and teams that cannot make it in the current economic environment. I'm not spending a lot of time on it.''
CBSSports.com first reported Thursday that the league would ''continue to be open to contraction,'' after Stern said he wanted player costs reduced by $700-800 million.
That set off predictable panic in some small-market cities whose teams have struggled on the court and at the gate.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/David-Stern-concedes-that-NBA-contraction-could-be-on-table-102210
http://futureramblings.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/memphis_grizzlies_logo.png
''It's a sensitive subject for me because I've spent 27 years in this job working very hard not only to maintain all of our teams, but along the way add a few,'' Stern said during his preseason conference call.
''But I think that's a subject that will be on the table with the players as we look to see what's the optimum way to present our game, and are there cities and teams that cannot make it in the current economic environment. I'm not spending a lot of time on it.''
CBSSports.com first reported Thursday that the league would ''continue to be open to contraction,'' after Stern said he wanted player costs reduced by $700-800 million.
That set off predictable panic in some small-market cities whose teams have struggled on the court and at the gate.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/David-Stern-concedes-that-NBA-contraction-could-be-on-table-102210
http://futureramblings.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/memphis_grizzlies_logo.png