NBA commissioner David Stern has been openly critical of the ongoing labor impasse in the National Hockey League, questioning in particular the leadership of NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow, who Stern says has cost the NHL ?in the neighborhood of $1 billion? in losses during the now 246-day work stoppage.

 ?It?s a big waste of a lot of human capital and a lot of money,? Stern said recently in regards to the bargaining tactics employed by Goodenow and Co., who have been reluctant - to put it mildly - in agreeing to the league?s proposal of a ?cost certainty? system that would see a link between league revenues and player salaries.

 The NHL locked out its players on Sept. 15, 2004 and on Feb. 16, 2005 became the first major (well, once upon a time it was) pro sports league in history to lose an entire season to a labor dispute.  Not unfamiliar to labor strife, the NHL has endured three work stoppages in a 13-year span and is in serious jeopardy of losing the 2005-2006 campaign as well if, in the very least, a framework for a deal is not put in place by the end of the summer.

 While there are indeed definite philosophical differences between both parties, what really assured that league?s downfall was a failure to communicate between the league and its union prior to the lockout.  

 For years, both sides knew the league was in dire need of a new economic system, yet refrained from even sitting down at the bargaining table in hopes of hammering a deal prior to the Sept. 15 deadline, instead opting to sacrifice the 2004-2005 campaign in order to prove a point ? that neither side was going to budge an inch in their respective stances.  

 In anticipation of a lengthy work stoppage, trust funds were created by the PA years before the lockout in order to ensure the financial security of league players and their families, and players were even strongly considered by their agents to play overseas this past season in order to generate some extra income (some players have already acknowledged that they will play another year in Europe this upcoming season if a deal is not in place).  During the lockout, the union has even gone as far as to accuse league owners of being dishonest when it comes to how much money they?ve lost in recent years.

 Scary, isn?t it, knowing that there exists so little trust between a sports league and its union?  Especially considering that the NHL is on the brink of - if it hasn?t already - escaping the American consciousness altogether.  

 Yet with Wednesday?s announcement that talks have broken off between the NBA and its union, Stern now finds himself in the exact same predicament as the league he?s been highly critical of in the past.    
 
 Let?s not fool ourselves here.  There?s a real possibility the NBA will indeed lock out its players once the current CBA expires on July 1, especially when it appears trust is beginning to wane between the parties.

 The league has accused the union of backtracking on several issues that the sides had previously agreed upon - namely the length of long-term contracts, the size of annual raises in long-term contracts, the implementation of an age limit as well as a luxury tax system that would see teams severely penalized for overspending - after the Players? Association met with a group of player agents back on Apr. 18.

 ?At the conclusion of a bargaining session on Sunday, April 17, we thought we were very close to a deal, with only a few items remaining to be compromised,? said deputy commissioner Russ Granik.  ?On April 19, a day after the Players? Association met with a group of player agents, we were informed that the Players? Association could no longer agree to a previously committed five-year rule on length of contracts.?

 ?Then, last week, after promising a written proposal to form the basis of a new agreement, the union instead advised us orally that it needed to backtrack on several other essential items that had already been resolved.?

 Hogwash, according to NBA union chief Billy Hunter, who was adamant that player agents were not in any shape or form spearheading negotiations on the part of the union.  Hunter went as far as to suggest the league?s accusations were, of all things, racially motivated.

 ?This was the same approach used by the league seven years ago,? Hunter told ESPN?s Chad Ford.  ?At the time, the word was that (agents) David Falk and Arn Tellem and others were actually orchestrating and managing the negotiations.  I thought it was repugnant and offensive at that time, and I think it?s even more so now ? the fact the inference is that me, as a black man, cannot operate an institution such as the union without having some white man oversee and (legitimize) whatever it is I?m supposed to be doing.?

 And we thought the NHL and NHLPA had a strenuous relationship.  I?m not sure now is the time for Hunter to be bringing up the race card, not with six weeks remaining before the current CBA expires.  

 The bottom line, however, is that a deal certainly will not be reached if both sides refuse to talk.  The NHL went that route, and that sport has arguably suffered irreparable damage because of it.  

 The NBA should be learning from hockey?s mistake, not following in its footsteps.

Kostas.Bolos@realgm.com