NBA Cancels Games Through Nov. 30

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 29, 2011 3:00PM

Basketball fans may have to be content with the college game through the rest of the year after NBA Commissioner David Stern announced the cancellation of all games in November after negotiations between owners and players broke down last night.

Talks again broke down over the splitting of revenues. Owners have been clamoring for a down-the-middle split of revenues while the NBA Players Association are adamant for 42.5 percent. Players earned 57 percent of revenues during the recently expired collective bargaining agreement and Stern warned players future proposals from owners may be even less to their liking.

"We're going to have to recalculate how bad the damage is," Stern said. "The next offer will reflect the extraordinary losses that are piling up now."

Beyond the losses for players and owners the lockout, now entering its fifth month, has repercussions beyond the loss of income for owners and players. Vendors for NBA arena across the nation, including the United Center, can see their income halved and, in some cases, may have to look for another job to make ends meet.

The Red Line Project's Matthew Schwerha spoke with United Center vendor Abe Ratuch, who said If the lockout extends to a full season he essentially goes from having a full-time job to a part-time one.

“If we were to find out it was going to go the entire season, then I would have to find another job,” he said.