THIS IS BREAKING NEWS...

Unable to reach a new contract, referees for the National Basketball Association have now officially been locked out by the league.

The NBA released the following statement confirming that replacement refs will be used:

The NBA today announced that it will be commencing referee training camp with replacement referees next week because the National Basketball Referees Association rejected its final contract offer yesterday.  The NBA's offer would have maintained current levels of referee salaries and modestly reduced the NBA's referee costs through changes to benefits and travel policies.  The NBA had also accepted the union's demand for an unusually-short two-year agreement, so that the referees would be able renegotiate as the economy improves.

Under the prior collective bargaining agreement, which expired on September 1, referees were awarded enhanced retirement bonuses of up to $575,000, on top of pension benefits that could exceed $2 million.  These retirement benefits, which the NBA has proposed to change, were in addition to compensation of almost $150,000 per year for entry level referees and over $550,000 per year for the most senior referees.

“The proposals we have made to the NBRA are extraordinarily fair and reasonable, given the current economic circumstances,” said Rick Buchanan, the NBA’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel.  “Since late 2008, the league and our teams have made far deeper cuts in non-referee headcount and expenses than we are asking for here.  It is extremely disappointing that the NBRA has ignored the economic realities, rejected our offer, and left us with no choice but to begin using replacement referees.”

As reported on Thursday, the league’s referees voted 57-0 late Wednesday night in Chicago to reject the latest proposal by the NBA, and stayed “locked themselves in”, staying overnight to hammer out their counterproposal which had another $1 million in concessions. McMorris claims the NBRA agreed to $2.5 million of the $3.2 million in concessions the league was seeking on Weds.

A statement from the NBRA  has not yet been released, but Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal via Twitter said, that a text message from NBRA union spokesman Lamell McMorris just came in reading, "We have just been officially locked out by the NBA."

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