The referees union has finally reached to an agreement with the NBA officials thus ending the 2 year lockout. The referees have signed a 2 year contract with NBA just before the start of the NBA season.
The agreement was reach on behalf of a vote casted on 23rd October, Friday. The terms of the agreement and the details of the vote have not been disclosed. NBA commissioner avid Stern gave a statement to the press stating “We are pleased to reach this agreement, the negotiations extended further than either side had hoped, but when our regular season tips off on Tuesday we’ll have the best referees in the world officiating our games.” The union did not comment on the matter.
The referees do not have much time to get ready for the season beginning on Tuesday. They have jumped into quick mode to prepare themselves before the games begin. The referees are currently being trained at the Referees Training Camp 2009 which is a three-day training camp. The NBA officials were planning to use replacement referees had the lockout continued further.
The league announced at the beginning of September that it was locking out the National Basketball Referees Association officials. The dispute arose because of the existing contract ending on 1st September and the league disapproved of the contract proposed for renewal