So, the first two weeks of the regular season are gone. Now each side has agreed to meet with a mediator separately and as a part of a larger group. This is the same mediator that helped with the NFL’s lockout. But why wasn’t this done sooner?
The NBA’s owners and locked-out players will meet with a federal mediator in hopes of resolving their deadlock and saving the 2010-11 regular season, which has already lost two weeks.
Union executive director Billy Hunter said Wednesday in an interview on WFAN-AM in New York that the union had agreed to meet with a mediator.
George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, told The Associated Press he will oversee negotiations between the sides starting Tuesday in New York.
In a text message, NBA spokesman Tim Frank said, “We are working on scheduling a meeting for early next week,” USA Today reported.
Earlier Wednesday, Hunter told WFAN that the meetings with the mediator would begin Monday. But later in the day, an NBA source directly involved with the talks told ESPN.com TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott that the meetings would start Tuesday.
Source: ESPN.com
