According to the NBA, the league’s players and board of governors have officially ratified a new collective bargaining agreement, preventing another lockout.
With NFL ratings down and professional basketball off to such a hot start during the 2016-17 season, the NBA really couldn’t afford another lockout situation in the near future.
Luckily for both the players and owners, that won’t be the case.
After weeks of negotiation and reports that the two sides were getting close, the NBA announced Friday that the players and NBA Board of Governors had officially ratified a new collective bargaining agreement.
The new CBA will go into effect on July 1, 2017, and last through the 2023-24 season:
NBA Players and Board of Governors Ratify New Collective Bargaining Agreement pic.twitter.com/nsxsK84s6u
— NBA (@NBA) December 23, 2016
This is obviously welcome news, since the league was heading for yet another lockout this summer otherwise. The NBA last experienced a lockout in the 2011-12 NBA season, which shortened the season to 66 games and ended with the Miami Heat defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the Finals.
After a summer filled with angry opinions in favor of the players and owners, not to mention countless “Basketball Never Stops” ads from Nike in 2011, the NBA finally pulled through and restored basketball to its throngs of fans.
With the NBA’s popularity sky high, sorting out a new CBA in 2016 was in the best interest of everyone involved.
Though this stage was merely a formality, since the toughest part was getting the owners and players to agree to a deal that suited both parties, the news that the latest CBA has officially been ratified puts the whole issue to bed and lets us look forward to another seven years of professional basketball.
Hopefully when the NBA revisits this issue in 2023, the end result will be as swift and painless.
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