NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBA Commissioner David Stern raised the possibility of cutting the number of teams in the league to help resolve the conflict with the players over a new labor agreement amid the global economic downturn.
While Stern said any such contraction was "a sensitive subject", he felt the option had to be on the negotiating table as the 30-team league headed for projected losses of around $350 million this season.
"The league is viable as long as you have owners who want to continue funding losses," Stern said on a pre-season conference call on Friday. "But it's not in the long-term a sustainable business model that we're happy to be supporting.
"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. Are there cities and teams that cannot make it in the current economic environment?"
The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire in June when a lockout is widely expected and Stern said both the league and players appreciate the urgent need to strike a deal.
"We're committed to a model that will, A, be more robust and, B, has certain performance standards in it," he added.
CERTAIN STANDARD
"Hence the issue of contraction gets mentioned because every team that's in the league has to be able to carry a certain weight, make a certain standard; and then we need to make them able to compete on the court and to have an opportunity to be profitable."
While Stern underlined the league's commitment to the 'small market' teams, he said the new collective bargaining agreement would require much more robust revenue sharing.
On Thursday, Stern said the NBA "would like to get profitable, have a return on investment" when speaking to reporters after two days of meetings with league owners.
"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."
(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)
