NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBA Commissioner David Stern says there has been no quantifiable progress in the league's conflict with the players over a new labor agreement but that both sides appreciate the urgent need to strike a deal.

Despite record ticket sales for the upcoming season, the league is heading for projected losses of around $350 million with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in June when a lockout is widely expected.

"I couldn't give you any listing numerically or in word form, of progress," Stern told reporters on Thursday after two days of meetings with league owners.

"But there seems to be a mutual determination to push and probe and do and discuss, because there's an increasing understanding on both sides of what the risk of not making a deal entails.

"This is actually palpable but not quantifiable, and so we are very much engaged in it."

Stern said the NBA "would like to get profitable, have a return on investment."

"There's a swing of somewhere in the neighborhood of $750 to $800 million that we would like to change. That's our story and we're sticking with it."

Asked how different the revenue sharing model would be should a new deal be reached, Stern replied: "Without knowing what the spend is on payroll, it's hard to know.

"At least one model is designed to ensure that all teams will have the opportunity to be profitable, with some modest performance standards.

"There's pretty unanimous agreement on the notion of revenue sharing, and increase in revenue sharing."

Although the league was buoyed by "very robust revenue generation" with the new season fast approaching, deputy commissioner Adam Silver painted a gloomy overall financial picture.

"Because of the built-in cost to the system, it's virtually impossible for us to move the needle in terms of our losses," Silver said.

"We made a report to the governors that said, in essence, we're going to lose somewhere in the range of $340-350 million this season, based on our projections.

"So there's no chance that we can change the fundamental economics, regardless of our success, because it just costs us too much money to generate those sales."

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Steve Ginsburg)