NBA breaks off labor negotiations between owners and players, Christmas Day games in jeopardy

BY MITCH LAWRENCE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Originally Published:Thursday, October 20th 2011, 7:47 PM
Updated: Thursday, October 20th 2011, 7:47 PM

NBA labor talks broke off Thursday night during the third straight day of negotiations with federal mediator George Cohen, meaning that the NBA will probably be cancelling its Christmas Day games in the next day or two.

Although the "concept" of a 50-50 split of the $4.3 billion in revenue was back on the table and made for a promising development in the 113-day old lockout, NBA owners and players continue to have enormous differences on the "system issues" that will determine how the money is divided in the future.

The two sides met for 29 hours with Cohen, considered the superstar of his profession. Then again, he worked 16 sessions during the NFL lockout last spring and couldn't broker labor peace between pro football owners and players.