NBA: Stern projects $400 million in losses
BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
DALLAS — David Stern says the NBA is projecting league-wide losses of about $400 million this season and has lost hundreds of millions in each previous year of the current collective bargaining agreement.
The commissioner says it has shown the players' association those numbers in hopes of demonstrating why the league feels it needs "significant changes" in the next deal.
The NBA's first proposal for a deal to replace the one that expires in July 2011 was thrown out Friday after what players association director Billy Hunter called a "contentious" 90-minute meeting.
Stern criticized the union's behavior at the session, saying Saturday it earned "high marks on the list of theatrical negotiations."