>> thank you, rebeca grynspan. [applause] >> i was going to come back to you later to share with us the latin american experience. i hope we have time to do that because some of the fundamental points on growth without inclusion and marble -- mar generalization the personal the encroachment into the ecological balance in latin america seems to reflect poorly on the transformation and the miracle happening in latin america but coming to be point. you have been one of the leading painters of a very rosy picture about an african resurgence. mckenzie brought up a number of ridings during the last year reflecting on the african lion and you participated in some of the literature. you are leading advocate of the view of president obama that this is africa's moment. that africa is ready to tailor development. you see some very key -- that support the resurgence of africa. can you share your perspective on what you have this optimistic picture about a new research and africa? >> in 1960 people like to see decanted before. in 1981 i went to ghana and found a different experience. the military power and economic -- it began with the economic advance. then the political -- the gdp -- which of course -- one condition. ability to continue to rule in that country and institutions continued to be stable and issues of infrastructure but above all gonna manages its new -- for me these critical issues and agenda -- it is not the same as before. from around 2,000 effort that momentum. and the demographic changes. a young population, rising middle-class with discussion of incomes. those are facts on the ground. in the political arena, and other nations of interest. until my friends were here things were happening in f that those of you who don't deal with it wouldn't see. but from all over the world we don't understand -- i am talking about equivalents of investors. if you were looking at greek bonds or some other european countries you can make a difference. the african risk has been -- we have results including with growth and managing natural resources, ensuring the government will follow as we were mentioning but i am confident. >> thank you. could i bring the rest of the participants to share their insight? anyone with a burning question? >> two questions or actually three. one is on the chinese in africa. you also mentioned the famine in the horn of africa. i understand food for african countries who have more of an option in who they deal with but at the same time we also see large pieces of land are being leased out for chinese to grow their own products or plants for biofuel. the famine in the horn of africa was human made. this also had to do with the way we are promoting economic growth and the way africa deals with china in making large projects that support economic growth. also from holland doing business in africa but not necessarily good for the farmers or herdsmen being pushed aside. that is my first question. i don't think it is nervousness. it is concern. my second question would be to what extent they take into account demographic changes when so many young people in africa, you think that is an opportunity or a risk for development in africa? my third question would be to rebeca grynspan. shea talked-about the economic theory but at the same time the entities came in because of the response to the structural adjustment program. i still fear that the reduction strategy for the world bank are emphasizing structural adjustment and not always -- there's lip service to social sector and separate that from economic growth. the private sector doesn't need healthy people barricaded to work for them. >> i think that is enough. >> a fourth question. toomey -- to me the lesson of tunisia is not just inclusive growth and all that. it is unemployment and frustrated resentment. i would love to hear from both our panelists. do they think that is a problem? is it one that now needs to be tackled? what can be done and if it is not done the growing number of big money interests going to prevent the democracy to tackle those issues? thank you. >> thank you very much. i am co-chair of the network of academy of science. i was also a former -- i just want to bring in the voice of the scientific and technological community which has been quite absent from the discussion. we all understand without proper investment in science and technology there will be no growth. this is one of the key problems in poor countries. property investment and education. i was in lisbon attending the annual meeting of the african policy and very delighted that for the first time they are dealing with high education, science and technology in africa. my question is to highlight the key issues the purchase will -- >> very interesting question. your very strategic. >> thank you very much. i am with the governing council. my question is directed to donald kaberuka in the context of a role of leadership and development in africa. throughout africa's history we have seen examples of good leadership and the impact that had. a number of examples, nelson mandela, ahead the privilege of visiting rwanda last december and was quite impressed with genuine progress in light of the tragic past. what i would like to know in all the we discussed so far the extent to which leadership is important and what is your prognosis for the future and the role that leadership will continue to play in development. >> let's start with rebeca grynspan. when you talk about the role of leadership, brazil for example has seen remarkable leadership over the last few years. if you could give us very quickly perspective on the economic transformation that has taken place in latin america and yet you do have these clashes, erosions in terms of the emerging inequalities, in terms of the environmental concerns that go with this kind of development. and respond to the question of education. talking to my friend who was kenyan and teaching at the school of government, his doctoral thesis was from brazil and he raised some fundamental issues regarding the role of science and technology in bringing about social and economic transformation in the developing world and the importance of education. donald kaberuka would also like to respond to that question. >> let me clarify the impression -- i want to clarify. i think the mpgs were great. if we didn't do it -- the agenda was great. i think the target, it cracks progress where the millennium federation was more than the target. in the goals the play of economic reality is more routine because you have this different agenda. one for economic growth -- we need to bring them together but not forgetting the mpgs. bring them to the center of the economic policies. that was my point. in latin america let me say first the main factor that we forget for the transformation of latin america up is democracy came to let america big-time. you have in latin america a strong democratic continent where the framers of democracy for more equality and distribution came about because we think about the voice of the people was heard much more for education and health improvement and policy intervention that makes the economy grow so when you look at what has been done in latin america and not only about economic growth but the decline of inequality the conclusion is inequality was not a natural thing but because of the intervention of the states with public policy for that to happen. so my first point is a democracy is a big part of latin america. not a small part. the expansion of education is the second major factor. the third factor is we have seen macroeconomics sound and financial policies from our crisis in the 80s. more growth was introduced of two types. on the one hand the transfer of resources to support by the sectors -- cash transfers well-designed in a way people i latin america halted with a very important part of the sector. just two points left coinciding with the question. one is that the youth challenge in latin america, let me give you only one number. one of every four young people in the region -- if that is not exclusion of a don't know what exclusion is. you have 25% of the young between 15 and 24 years old. out of the labour market in the education system. it is a huge problem that will need much more effort. by the second one we avoid the middle income and part of avoiding the middle income truck is the issue of science and technology. to come to an agenda of knowledge and technology. latin america is behind asia in the investment in science and technology and something that goes with it that is beyond the expansion of education to go to the next step that is the expansion of education for science and technology agenda. >> thank you. a question about food and security and how we manage climate change particularly -- in the horn of africa all the way to northern kenya but also questioned about demographic positions. in your current economic outlook report you make a great deal of reference -- the impact it might have on social stability in africa also related to the question of education. give your perspective on that. >> beginning with the question of leadership, would you prefer a ship reaching clients or a lion reading ship? leadership is important. it is even decisive. a critical factors institutions. leadership is something with any human persona. a human being can go from very good to very bad. or the one other way around. it would pass for other countries. or some other reasons--because in future we are week. it is critically important that leadership but even more important strong institutions. for me -- for me institutions are critical. china and africa natural resources. it is important to manage natural resources because they are gospel. whether you are trading with asia or the americas or europe these resources become -- would be exhausted at some point. to build an industrial base reproductive base in the long term they should avoid simply being -- that applies -- you have oil exporting countries over the poverty line. the economy feeds into productive capacity with agriculture and studies. i want to be clear. writing about india, he said the problem with entitlements. a group of people -- or some other issues. failure of policy in the horn of africa, the longest question. and the failure of african leaders are included. how do we resolve the issue? and the long term plan -- we are prepared to work with -- other international institutions with a long-term plan but the question is -- the issue about land grabs bloopers the country's groping for their own people. as opposed to investing in africa for democracy. including the market. it is something we must work on. that is done already in terms of -- will not raise? coming to african land to export food, that is problematic. and water which in the future could be an issue. economic condition for africa to look at these relationships and those practices exist and i hope we can find a way to encourage investment in the interests in the future. >> what about the youth? >> my brother said that inequality is more than inequality. to nietzsche -- tunisia was the failure of the model that will give your education and even jobs as much on the democratic side. that is okay for some time but a youth educated could not go for long. the night before they left power, but educated people denied them access to knowledge. for me the failure of the model was the biggest thing. it follows inequality, exclusion, and it is over these issues and part of a financing package for the recovery in tunisia. >> we're left with two minutes. what i am going to do is ask for your last word. rebeca grynspan, give us your last word in terms of what you think the site of international development should learn in terms of development thinking. there is a competing idea and competing models. sid is in surge in terms of -- what would your advice to the information development in terms of its development thinking? >> the sid has been a force of ideas and evidence based research which drive the discussion. development is about discussing different alternatives about opening up the options and i think the role societies can play in that field is enormous and we should avoid going back to a discourse that has the answer for everything and there's only one way of xhwil a moral renewal clear for the development community. my last thought is let's never forget the short and long term start at the same time so at the same time that we took somalia over this crisis how to avoid the crisis for the future. >> to avoid the crisis in future but there is immediate humanitarian need to support from this congregation. i think we should show our support to the humanitarian cause in somalia and the rest of the horn of africa. those who are able to contribute, i hope the secretary can do this. this is an appeal from rebeca grynspan and i totally endorse it. particularly advice to the international development? how would you see sid moving forward playing a role in this dynamic? development thinking? >> thank you very much. to enforce what dr. wilson says, it is not just about this. we have to save lives. this does not come as a surprise. we have been in this crisis for six months. i don't think it is the last time it will happen. i think the best thing is -- let us work together ensuring that the horn of africa has not seen this tragedy in coming years. that begins by political action by african people on somalia. the longest crises on the african continent. i have seen our friend later. the last 50 years, to measure events like the collapse of the berlin wall and lehman brothers and in-between there were quite different. international development has an agenda which is up to the center. you have done a good job in advocacy and what to do for africa. it is what can we do for africa? first of all it is unlikely that the suffering fiscal retrenchment, unemployment, for the investment we have to make, but it gives other possibilities. how do we get africa to unload -- taking advantage of these possibilities -- africans working with you instead of the international community doing something for africa and find it is an agenda which would be on the continent and what happens -- stable institutions that work for all. confidence to investors and foreign investors in that agenda. >> thank you very much indeed. [applause] >> can we now formally give a huge clapped whar two panelists? to our two panelists? [applause] >> thank you so much indeed. [inaudible conversations] >> that figure removing the veil of ignorance from human understanding is an american invention. not a classical venture but sort of classical. >> if you missed c-span's latest documentary the library of congress there's a preview on c-span's youtube channel. it is free. be notified of the latest videos and watch the library of congress documentary and hundreds of other timely videos online at youtube.com/c-span. >> a few live events c-span2. republican congressman king jordan speaks to members of the young america foundation. ohio rep heads the republican study committee came under criticism for discouraging fellow republicans from voting for house speaker john boehner's initial debt ceiling plan. that is at 9:00 a.m. eastern. at 12:15 eastern a conference on retirement. we will hear from a treasury department official involved in helping to implement the 2010 health care law and promoting retirement savings. later on the homeland security subcommittee looks at the costs and management concern of property leasing for the federal agencies. that is live at 2:3 eastern. >> executive director for the nfl and nba players unions on wednesday took part in a discussion of collective bargaining rights in sports. the nfl ended a lockout by agreeing to a ten year deal that resulted in dispute over revenue-sharing and players' rights. the nba lockout of players on july 1st after a recent labor deal expired. on tuesday the nba filed a claim against the national basketball players union for unfair labor practices. the national bar association hosts this 1 hour and 15 minute event. >> on behalf of the national bar association want to welcome everyone to the executive director's forum. we know about the major role in american society. we look forward to sunday during football season and we look forward during the week and on the weekend when the nba comes. the industry naturally has developed into a multibillion dollar industry. two of the biggest sports are football and basketball. the two attorneys who happen to hold both players together a two african-american attorneys. mr. william hunter and mr. lamar smith of the nba and nfl respectively. today we have mr. william hunter. he took the helm of the nba players association in 1996 and named executive director of the national basketball players association. the union of current professional basketball players's principal duty is to enhance financial education and emotional well-being of 430 nba players. mr. hunter continues to line his efforts with the nba's issues to insure the rights of nba players are protected and every measures taken to assist players in maximizing their opportunities on and off the court. under his leadership the nba players utilize their collective bargaining power to challenge how the nba is run and the method in which money is generated. serving as chief negotiator during high-profile negotiations which culminated in the 1999 collective bargaining agreement. what a lot of people don't understand is mr. hunter is also the head of the w. nba players association and as an organization he created and they also serve the women nba players. mr. hunter arrived well prepared for the high visibility role of the renowned sports union. his diverse background includes a stint as professional football player with the washington redskins and miami dolphins and is former u.s. attorney in the northern district of california and san francisco. mr. hunter graduated from turkish university where he was captain of the football team and received his doctorate from howard university. he was also a local prosecutor in alameda county and san francisco district attorney's office. he was appointed as u.s. attorney in 1977 and after serving as u.s. attorney he developed a private practice representing white collar clients and represented such individuals as san francisco mayor willie brown, mc hammer, deion sanders, ricky sanders and and athletes and entertainers. join me in welcoming mr. billy hunter. [applause] >> i credit mr. smith. mr. smith was elected executive director of the national football league players association on march 16th, 2009. he replaced gene upshaw who passed away on august 20th, 2008. his election -- prior to his election he was a trial lawyer and litigating partner, native of washington d.c.. mr. smith served from 1991 to 2000 as u.s. attorney in the district of columbia u.s. attorney's office including service and senior prosecutor in the violent crimes section in the major crimes section of the office. mr. smith served as counsel to deputy attorney general eric holder. he was u.s. attorney's office lead representative to the law enforcement committee and served as u.s. secret service multi agency command center during the 2001 presidential inauguration. during his time mr. smith focused primarily on white-collar criminal defense and liability trials and also share of the firm government investigation and white-collar practice groups. mr. smith argued numerous cases before the u.s. court of appeals and the district of columbia circuit and district of columbia court of appeals where he defended individuals in high-profile criminal cases and congressional investigations as well as fortune 500 companies and criminal complex civil cases. compliance matters and internal investigations and recently concluded the nfl agreement that we get football on sunday. [applause] >> i will have mr. smith start by saying a few words. >> i want to say thank-you for the round of applause. it is a pleasure to be here. it was billy's idea to stand up throughout this whole thing. find. i am happy in a nice comfy chair. and won't take a lot of time because a lot of the have questions and we will have a vibrant discussion. when you said i was elected in march of 2009 my first thought was that is not right. that was ten years ago. when i was 6 feet tall. it has been a very long and extremely public fight over the last two years. i am most proud of our young men and their families because at a time when people were very quick to make a judgment about their resolve to stay together and their commitment to fairness when many people doubted they were capable of the our young men demonstrated tremendous results and that is the only thing that got us through. when billy and i are together we tell stories about how it is all about us but the reality is the work we do is inextricably tied to the men and families we represent. we are at the tape breaking moment. billy is where i was two years ago. the last thing i will say is in a few minutes you will hear from one of my best friends. i don't know if billy remembers this but in november of 2008 when i'm was being considered for the post i came to harlem because we have a friend in common and the idea is we would spend ten minutes talking about his job and the job i was hoping to have three hours later. billy walked out saying i will continue to pray for you and you will be the white man for the job. he is an incredible man and i have a pleasure to call him my friend. that is all i will say. i will go to the grey haired gentleman. [applause] >> the one piece he left out was that i suggested we stand. once i sit down and have a hard time getting up. as i look around this is a historical moment. i can't think of any time in history you had two african-americans heading the nfl and nba representing all of these players with a global presence throughout the world and also to be part of an operation that generates billions of dollars per year so it is really great. i have enjoyed the relationship and prior to him are served as gene upshaw's lawyer when he and his brother were in business in california. it has been a long and pleasant ride. when i look back it seems time has gone by pretty quick. seems like yesterday when i got here was an interesting moment. i probably have two of the best jobs. can't think of any better job in the country that one could have when you pay a handsome salary and hang with all the celebrities and all kinds of other perks and travel world and meet important people. so it is great. the real pride is working with these young brothers because in my situation it has 80% of which are african-american males and i can tell you from my vantage point some great kids growing to be men and that is what we're trying to help them become in the process of being confronted with all the attention that they get. it is not possible without them. in 1998 i went through my first lockout which you know lasted seven most. are players lost $5 million and owners lost a little over a billion. since then the amount of money our players turned has increased exponentially. the players turned $2.3 billion. that gave us an average salary of $5.8 million. that meant 50% of our players made 2.9 or above. that was the breaking point. we are in the throes of one of the most vicious battles i have been engaged in. this is my third collective bargaining that are negotiated. in 2005 we didn't have an issue. in a matter of a few weeks, didn't take as long at all. this time around it will be down and dirty. i was hoping we could avoid it. i was hoping we could avoid bringing this into the courts. yesterday the commissioner elected to bring a suit against the unions and groups of players so we are engaged in responding to that suit but in the context of all that we are in the course of negotiating. the united met on monday and having negotiations with schools and next thing i know he goes in front of the camera and says players are not negotiating in good faith and the next morning he called -- i want to inform you we will finally suit against un 9:00 a.m. today. that is the way you want it, so be it. it is ironic because when we decided to petition the labor relations board we called before hand to say we are planning to do this because we have meetings coming up and i thought it would be embarrassing and i didn't want -- by setting up and negotiating and two players walked out rather than negotiate with a suit but that is the way it is. this is going to be a lively session. don't hold back. any questions you have, don't be afraid to ask them. there will be some i might not be able to answer because of the current status of my situation. i can't promise you we will get an agreement before the season is out. i am hoping that we will. if we don't get one, the owners and players -- $5 billion. we will work hard to try to get it. the problem is the gap is so far between the two of us because the way it intends to negotiate is not negotiated this way every time and i will explain that to you as we go. any questions you have feel free to ask and hopefully we will answer them. [applause] >> don't hold back. hold back as much as you would like. [talking over each other] >> i have known billy almost 20 years. when i was a young lawyer he walked into the courtroom -- who is that guy over there? >> here's where i start. i start with you. as you said becoming executive director of the nba players association is probably one of the greatest jobs anyone could have and when you go through law school that is not a position people think about so how did you land that position? >> i haven't thought about it either. i have gone back to syracuse after 25 years and coming back together for the athletes. a guy hired to recruit to the school was two years behind me so we are back in together and they've asked me what was doing. at that time i was engaged in private practice that left the u.s. attorney's office a few years before. a month or so later he called and said are you familiar with the nba players association? what is that? they represent the basketball players and they are moving on to executive director. i think you are the guy for the job. i can't promise it to you but i would like to submit your resume and have people get behind you and i said okay. that is how it started. i got the interview and from there i was interviewed by a group of players michael jordan included. we had at three day process whereby we had 15 or 16 candidates from corporate america and private practice etc. and we were interviewed by 33 ballplayers in the room. michael jordan was one of them. buck williams and a group of them. every day they would cut somebody so it was like playing football. you turn in your book and you are gone. by the third day there were only three of us left and those three were myself and the president of the dallas mavericks and the other was bill strickland who is a lawyer, and agent in washington d.c.. i got selected from the three. part was the one they chose to be head of the union. >> very similar to billy. we have similar backgrounds. u.s. attorney's office, private practice. in october of 2008 i got a call in the office from a search committee. they left a message and said are you interested in a new job career and to be honest i told my secretary i am not because back in 2008 we were heading into a historic election and we all thought we could elect our first black president. i have been involved in the campaign and on my horizon was potentially going back into government. the idea of switching firms or a new opportunity did not appeal to me. we claytor someone called back and said we are calling about the executive director job for the nfl players association. it started off as a process with a lot of candidates but to kind of cut to the crux of your question i think if either one of us started out our career saying one day we would be sitting in this job we would probably tell the person who said that to stop drinking. it is not a traditional career path. but the things that you are able to learn in a job like being a prosecutor or representing people in very high stakes situations running a firm, being in management position. all of those are things that i do every day to do my job and i couldn't imagine a better training for what i went through and was dealing with. >> let me follow-up with you. be replaced gene upshaw who from all i read have a very amicable good relationship and whenever they had to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement it went pretty smoothly on the surface. how much pressure did that put on new given that you were replacing it gene upshaw and the nfl commissioner was roger goodell who was still under pressure when the collective bargaining agreement came up? >> we both have jobs where we would be lying to you if we didn't work in high pressure high-profile win or lose paradigm is but that is not much different from standing up in a homicide case representing a corporation in large scale negotiation. it is all fresher. what i told people about the comparison people want to make between gene and paul and roger and demaurice smith is everyone looks where those relationships ended her rather than they started. most people don't know that paul tagliabue cross-examined gina shop during the reggie white trial. early on in their relationship by can promise you from going through everything i read about jean and the things he left for the person coming after him. when it started off i am sure there was not a day that one of them wasn't trying to tear the head off of the other one. did that relationship evolve? yes. in the same way i am not sure any two people have been thrust in a more high-profile high-stakes relationship and roger and i and he will do what he has to do and i will do what i am going to do and you try to move their relationship to the point that there is trust and what you want to rajiv. it doesn't mean every moment is skipping down the lane holding hands but the most important thing you can do is never take anything personally. make sure you understand what your business objectives are and performing duties at highest and best level is ultimately how it is going to get done. >> a good follow-up to not taking anything personally. how do you feel about david stern making $23 million a year? >> i think it is ironic because in the negotiations you heard in the last two years they are losing $300 million per year collectively and recently they lay of 120 people in the league office. 20 or so teams losing money. someone would be earning $23 million. i can't match the two. it sounds like corporate america where you lay off people and the salary of the head of the corporation continues to grow. if he is earning $23 million in the face of the economic picture they painted for us and somebody needs to reexamine that. >> from my vantage point every time the nfl and nba renegotiated television contracts the figure has gone up. i have never seen a figure go lower. with new contract being negotiated you think the nba owners are trying to retract the and, of the players. >> the compelling issue is revenue-sharing. unlike the nfl we don't have aggressive revenue-sharing plan in the nba. where they have given money to owners is true luxury taxes we impose on players and the escrow where we have a cap of 50% over the last five years and they hold back 80% of the player's salary and if the salary goes above that 57% number they were able to keep that 10% and use it to distribute to those teams beneath the cap. >> you said the negotiations seem to be tough yet every time i see -- >> it is easy to make a demand on the players and that is always the way voters tend to react. they think the players should give back. there has not been a negotiation i am aware of during my tenure over the last 40 years in the nba that players haven't given back something. they agreed to the imposition of a salary cap in thes and there were other restrictions that were imposed. constantly negotiating to create the perfect system. they want to guaranteed profit for each team above 20 to $30.03-year. all rebuttals, the business we are aware of gets any guaranteed process. what i am saying is support the new york city or l.a. or chicago or big market teams to kick back that is part of the internal problem that is clearly within that group there's a lot of fighting going on and the commissioner feels it is much easier to approach a demand from the players by threatening a lockout and locking out than it is to resolve it within their own group meeting to force those teams to step up and he may not own up to it but i know that is a reality. .. >> renegotiate television contracts, did you ever think about signing a five year to seven year as opposed to 10 years? >> i think the right announces for any deal is not the length, but the mutual part of the contract that benefits both you and everybody else. if two people get together and decide that they want to do business to in the first thing you talk about is when does it end, it's not the most conducive atmosphere for getting a deal done, because at that point your intro discussion will naturally turn to am i going to be better off after five then he is, and if i'm not better off after five, do i have any damage to break the deal. it seems to me that the right way to look at any deal is to structure it in a way that provides for stability, a share of revenue, and in our case we have the lowest or shortest career path, how to create a business model where we can try to make our players work longer in the system. so, if you end up in a situation where you have to trade the length of the deal in order to try to ensure that career is longer, that's what you want. so with our deal we ended up, and we're not quite there yet, but we ended up looking at this as what's in the best interest of those young men who played on average for 3.5 years. and where virtually every career ends on an injury, not my retirement. so if you start to take steps to decrease the amount of injuries, but also taking steps to ensure that you're going to get compensated in some way if you have an injury, those things become the drivers of a fair deal as opposed to the length. >> unlike the nfl, we are not prepared to do a 10 year deal. the longest you we've ever done is a six year deal with a one year option. expired on june 30. they elected not to exercise for the additional year. what we are saying is why don't we do a shorter, let's do a five year deal and take another look at this thing five years from now. the reason why we say five years, because you mentioned the notion of the tv contracts, and the reality is that's where the revenue-generating loss, and their extremely lucrative. the nps probably the lowest paying contract. about six or seven years ago. is due to expire in 2016. what they have done is over the tenures they were proposing there would be a four to 5% annual increase in revenues with exception of those two years when new tv deal would expire and they would go back to negotiations. they are projecting a seven to 9% increase in revenue. when the nba tells you it's going to be fortified, or 79, that's conservative. they are projecting within -- this past year, total revenues were about 4.2 billion. and their projecting within the next four to five years, annual revenues will reach as high as 6 billion. so with those kinds of numbers, there's no window world we will do a change because we're not going to do a 10 year deal with the numbers you're proposing. you're proposing the player sounds be frozen for the next 10 years and then they don't participate in any of that growth. so we are saying that the numbers are gargantuan, and there's no way we'll have our players playing providing the services, causing people to show up in the arena and not share at some level in the growth. and that's why we are at an impasse. >> everyone i think probably takes a look at what we do on the outside and thinks they understand what it is. but both of us spend a tremendous amount of time in regular economic theory. and trying to figure out what the trends are going to be, what the growth which going to be. and those things become significant drivers of what's good for your players at that time. our systems are similar in some respects, dissimilar in others. one significant issue for us is we are taking 55% of the tv money going forward. which is a change over time. so when those economic drivers, and your respective analysis of those things, become very important. any sports league says the growth was going to be x., could be x. plus. >> right. >> the other thing is football, football is the prototype sport. the people in nba and nfl, the people in hockey and the nfl, you know? reality is the nfl is the big boy. is the elephant in the room. it generates more money, generates more money than basketball, hockey, baseball. they just don't begin to compare. these cats are generating 10 billion a year. >> they're not getting paid 10 billion a year. [laughter] >> make it sound like it. >> well, billy, i know in the last nba collective bargaining agreement was when they implemented the gap on rookie salaries. what i notice without knowing any of the details of the new click to bargaining agreement, i noticed in past years there were a lot of holdouts, particularly first round draft pick, and i was surprised to open the paper a couple weeks ago and i saw the camden had already signed and he signed for about 50 something million less than years previous first round draft pick. were first pick of the draft. >> correct about 35. >> so is there now a salary cap for rookie? >> no. what we did in our system was look at the top 10 to 12 picks in the draft every year, and looked at what that impact was over, over all rookie pool. obvious a delinquent have very strict rookie scale that we felt was a nonstarter for us because a year after a guy plays he becomes veteran wage scale. what we ended up doing was basically freezing the rookie pool for 2011 at virtually the same amounts that it was in 2009. so we don't have a cap system. we have a pool of money that is available. and many of the issue became, back to our core and fundamental principles. those top 10 guys, there's no other way of looking at it. they took the largest decrease in the overall rookie pool system. but what we were able to do was push more money down to picks 15-32, and then remember, we've got two rounds, two through seven. we were able to raise the minimum salaries of all of those people below. i mean, when people watch the draft and nobody is like, you come into the national football league and you make a billion dollars, most of the young men that come and play football for us have an annual salad that is less than 600, $70,000 to sell everyone removes the top 10 picks. everyone gets a good after that. so we did by decreasing that money we pushed money down, but then we also pushed a lot of that money into veterans, proven veterans. because you do have a number of veterans who have proven themselves in years two, three, four, five and six, who are nonetheless getting compensated at a rate that is smaller than an unproven rookie. so the idea was to push down and spread. >> ladies and gentlemen, of the audience, i have a few more questions i'm going to ask billy and d. search of questions you can start approaching the mic. if you have questions to ask. billy, do you think will have an nba season? >> if i had to bet on it at this moment, i would probably say no. and the simple reason, i just haven't seen any movement, any indication at all. i've been dealing with david now for 15 years. with david stern. this is the first time where i'm a somewhat befuddled because i haven't been able to read him. i think he can read me in the sense that we are both ducky and. and i think the circumstances -- we are both ducky and. he's a very impressive commissioner. and in the past he's pretty much got carte blanche. but i think in the last six or seven years there's a new group of owners who have come in, who paid premiums for the franchises, and what they're doing, they are kind of holding his feet to the fire so that he can't come even if he wants to negotiate with me, make a compromise, he can't. we are $800 million apart per year. not for the total deal, per year. he started out, the owner started out in august demanding that we give them back a billion dollars a year and he came down to 900 million. we went almost two years, i guess a month and half ago we made a proposal that we would give them back 100 million a year and we do a five year to picks were talking about giving them back about 550 million over five years. they said that was a nonstarter. that there was no way. that they needed 900 million, and unless we're willing to give them 900 million, then we just weren't negotiating. we said we're prepared to talk about other things. we don't really think you need the changes, you don't need to turn the system on its head. what we can do is make the adjustments that you need and we can help those that you contend are struggling through revenue sharing. so revenue sharing has been raised in the meeting but it always hits a teacher. so they go away from that. so when you say the final analysis, will there be a season? the only way there will be a season if something, i was a catastrophic, but something has to happen that both of us can use as leverage, you know, to save face. save face, i can move to him, you know what i'm saying? that so far away, that what happens on our proposal, we've got a guaranteed 57% up to this last deal. and when we agreed to give back the 100 build a year, they take our percentage down to 54%. so that was a leap for me to go from 57 to 54. they want me to go down to 47. that's ludicrous. just can't be. so there's got to be some of the way that we can resolve this thing, otherwise if they continue to be the way they are, that's what i'm saying something has to happen in order to convince those group of owners from preventing him from being reasonable, you know, allowing him to act. >> well, what if kobe bryant, kevin durrant, derrick rose, lebron james, dwayne wade, for example, signed with european teams and a lockout goes on? >> what happened is they've got extended contracts. they've got contracts that extend beyond the current season. if were locked out, but if at any given moment there's a resolution then they've got to have an out in the contract. it got to come back and on other nba contract. but i can assure you that every marquee player who ends up signing to go to europe or to asia, whatever, is opening eyes. i know it's got to be causing some stress within the ownership community. take a guy like kobe. kobe went two weeks ago and are able to get $3 million for eight of the. they want to the philippines and put on two exhibition games. they were paid $3 million. kobe, derrick rose, kevin durrant, derek fisher and a few others. that was something that they got on a lark in the sense that some rich mogul in the philippines wanted them to go. so he reached out to derek, and derek puts the plan together and told them what they need. when these guys go out and into into these kinds of deals on their own, it can opens their eyes and they begin to understand more about the business and what their own personal worth is. not just the u.s., for the global market. i don't think there any players in the world who are better known globally than nba basketball players. and so, that's -- i think it clearly adds an impact. i don't encourage them to go, but by the same token were not going to stand in the way if they elect to go. >> well, at this point i'm going to open it up for the audience. we've been going for a while, so ma'am, do you have a question? >> yes. >> , give one caveat to the audience? particularly as it pertains to billy hunter. a lot of us are attorneys here, if we're about to go to trial, somebody asked us what your trial strategy for, you know, we wouldn't tell. so i would just say, you know, you may want to avoid asking negotiating strategy with the owners. >> right. well, i won't be questioning like that. i am a retired judge in cleveland, ohio. law class of 1970 along with billy hunter. and my question is this. we had a sports seminar on monday, and in that seminar there were a lot of questions, or comments, about the difficulty of african-americans being able to become agents for the professional players. and i just wonder him both mr. smith and mr. hunter if you have any suggestions for those persons who might want to get into that area? >> let me first acknowledge who judge collins is. she and i were part of the group in 1968 that locked up the law school. in more radical days. [applause] >> and what makes it so unique is, she was the valedictorian of her class. so when we -- [applause] >> so when we convinced daisy to stand with us, we felt we accomplished something. [laughter] but becoming an agent is not difficult at all. all one has to do is get an application, you file and fill it out. you pay a fee. i think in the case of the nfl be your ultimate have to take a test. you don't have to take a test with our organization. we do a background check. you can become an agent. i think what most people are alluding to, they succumb is how you become a successful agent. i can tell you how to go out and get players. that's the key. what happens when you break into this business, and sort of, it's a high-volume investment. because most of the major agents, they have runners and they identify these kids in their teens. i think a lot of them probably, they take care somewhere along the way to build relationships. that's how it is. today, particularly when you look in the black community with the economic stress that we are suffering, if you're a parent and you've got a kid that's got any kind of talent and people, around and begin you tell you what they can do for you, they offer you 20, 30, 40, $50,000, then you might be inclined to take it. it's not lawful, but we know that happens. so i think that's what you're competing with. so if you know the kid and never relationship with him, he or she, and their parents, or something close to them, i would suggest you cultivate that relationship to try to stay in touch with a kid. when he makes it maybe we'll look back and take you with him. >> well, i think -- okay. >> when owners start talking about they are losing money, they're only talking about from the revenue side. they never talk on the equity side. jerry jones with the cowboys is worth 1.2 billion. >> roughly. >> what did he buy them for? >> 400 change. >> so in 20 years he made $600 million. >> the average team in the united states increased in value by about 500% over the last 15 years. >> okay. and please get none of the increase in value, equity, of that where as if your ceo -- do they? >> look, it depends on how you think about it. the only reason that teams increase in value are primarily the driver of the tv contracts, which drive overall revenue. when you see revenue in our sport go from 4 billion to nearly 10 billion in as many years, do the players reap the benefit of the tv contracts? yes. to the tv contracts bump up the buying price of the teams? absolutely. the more nuanced question i think he is, a team cells, does a player get a portion of the selling price? no. >> right. and if these individuals for producers, not employees, their producers, all right, because we're looking at them and they're the ones who produce all of the revenue, all right, the top earnings, the top stockbrokers at goldman sachs, they make more than the champions. and they get stock options and what have you, that's it. vasco players hit on basque balkans. football players, and as young players, these football players and basketball players are precluded from the equity side, and whenever we hear on tv, and this is not to knock you guys, okay? whenever you hear on tv, you always hear about them losing money, but you never, the stock price, i mean the guy of the team never goes down. all right? so why is it that that's not brought out that well, they want to say franchise player, why do let the franchise player, if you want to preclude him from become why can't he get a piece of the franchise? >> nothing would make me happier. nothing would make bill happier. i think you should get the executive directors. [laughter] look, you are preaching to the choir. look, we're in the church. so there isn't a time when billy would want that for his players and i wouldn't want it for our players. that becomes the holy grail, i think, of where that line in the sand is between owners and players. so i feel you. nothing would make me happier because, you know, at a time when we were in our battle, one of the proposals we had was okay fine, if you want money back, fine, just give us a share of the national football league. and that didn't go anywhere. [laughter] >> frankly i thought it was brilliant. [laughter] but it didn't go anywhere. and that is because, for any number of reasons. but look, i believe you, and think that one of the more creative models going forward in sports could be something like that. >> i just want to end by saying i think that we have to advance the point. with these individuals, one day they saw in the equity in what they're building, no one goes to see jerry jones run the 40, catch a football or score a touchdown. no even killers about jerry jones. no one cares who the owners are. we give the players are and that's we look at. i think we need to move to the point, and i just think, you come it might be because we are black. the majority of them are black. but i think we need to move to the point where we opened the public's eye, not only to the equity side. not only to the income side, but to the equity side. if you were the ceo of ibm, you get a salary and you get stock. 10 years from now when you sell your stock, you sell at capital gains they don't even pay the income tax, you pay like 10%. so you get a break there also. so i think when they are saying that, a lot of people don't realize that they don't see it, but it should be brought up to the public so they realize the only they're making like bandits and robbing the place. what to the pleasant once they're finished? thank you. [applause] >> i appreciate the brothers question, but we've got a lot of people in line. so if you can just ask a question spent the afternoon. [inaudible] and i am an attorney -- >> can you speak of a little bit? >> hello? i'm an attorney in new york. my question is, to questions, both very short. with revenue sharing being such a critical component of negotiations and also in terms of the source of income, benefits to players, how do you navigate through the process of making sure that obviously year being the best advocate and that there's not terms that are adverse to the players interested negotiate with the tv contracts, if you're not at the table, and then the second question is regarding retired players. the issue has come up, especially the nfl with retired players being concerned about their interests being protected. >> let me answer the second one first. one facet of this deal was the players of the national football league created a nearly $1 billion benefit to the former players out of this new deal. and that was an important and significant issue for me when i took the job. because i do believe that we stand on the shoulders of others. we were able to get the owners for the first time in history, i mean, think about it. it's 2011. the first time in history that teams have contributed to the pensions of former players. so the owners -- [applause] >> to your other question, that's what our job is. and you know, we sued the owners over the tv contracts that they negotiate in the past because we believe that they were structured in a way that actually hurt the players. and in this deal we actually increased the lead was revenue maximization, and compliance so that the lawyers who are sitting here come the lawyers who will be working for us had more tools to make sure that with those contracts are negotiated, then negotiated in a way that the owners are putting on truly two hats record in the interests of the players and representing the interest of the owners. >> thank you. >> one more caveat. can everyone speak out. it's kind of hard hearing you. >> i'm an attorney in texas. we have sent both sides a lot of really strong leadership from the players, strong groups of players coming out and speaking out. and then we've also heard the occasional but some players who maybe aren't involved in the leadership message of who have their own opinion kind of about what's going on. what role do you think, particularly long-term drawnout negotiation, what role do you think that plays in the cohesiveness of teens and the players, and does that issue come up in the negotiations, i.e. the longer this goes out the more frustrated everyone will be and we don't know how this will play, particularly if you're looking to having a season at the end. >> i will take from our site, players solve their information is the single most important factor. in our history the strikes in the '80s, there were significant high profile players who crossed over. when i took the job, every time i met with a group of players, every last one of them across the line and let the players stand on the sidelines and suffer while they crossed over to join the owners side, i mean, you know how i feel about it. and i didn't have any problem calling them out by name because they hurt their fellow players. so, a year ago we started the season in minnesota on that thursday night with drew brees and the new orleans saints walking to midfield, and hutchison and jared allen bring their teams to meet -- to midfield and holding one thing up to represent solidarity. that's when restarted, that's the way we finished. i don't care how good we are in negotiation room. your opponent is always sitting there thinking that your players aren't going to stand together. and until they become convinced that that's not going to happen, that's when things change. >> i would say in 1998 when we went to the lockout, that i literally started two years ago going around beating the teams and players, and actually prepping and condition them for the locket which i knew was coming. and just as i predicted, it did occur. we weren't as prepared i think in 90 as we are today. but we are able to hold it together for seven months. at the end of the seventh month we struck a deal with the nba with the commission thought they would be forced to cancel the season. this time around we have spent the same amount of time, and we're have better prepared or players. i'm convinced that if our players are locked out for a year, that they can withstand the lockout. and i think the owners know that, that they are prepared, because as i've talked about we've got to be prepared to hang, and if it means shutting it down for you, that's what we have to do. one of the problems you run into is the length of careers of the professional athlete. they are very short. the average basketball career is four years. the average football career is probably three to four years as well. so if a guy misses a year, it's pretty significant but if he misses the year, he's going to earn 5 million this year and 5 million next year and he's going to lose that fight, particularly if it's at the end of his career, that's a big hit yesterday. i can remember that issue came up in 98, at that time patrick ewing was the president of the union and he had announced he was prepared to blow the entire, blow his entire salary for the year. i think because of his position that patrick took, as respected other players had for him, were able to hold everybody together. he was prepared to sacrifice 29. obviously, what patrick was willing to do, some the players were saying hello, he are you made 100 million. so for him to lose 20 is no biggie. but i can say 29 and 20 million. [laughter] so he ended up losing a little over 10 million. when i look at a guy like the present of our union, derek fisher, i know that getting towards the end of his career, has two years left on his current contract, and what he will get contracts beyond that, are yet to be seen. that he's been pretty strident, and he has dug in the same way patrick s. duggan. but like you said, look, what it all comes down to is you can have all the negotiations and will come and i've said in the meeting, ultimately it is power versus power. and the longer the players are prepared to stand, and ultimately we will get where we need to go. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. i am from west palm beach, florida, and my question is for mr. smith. i read that you got the players before the lockout even started to buy into an insurance policy that would cover them for lack of a better word if the lockout went beyond what was originally anticipated could you talk about that and what impact that had on the negotiations? >> no. [laughter] you know, i'm going to claim privilege on that one. >> all right. why my question? [laughter] >> later we will talk. >> hello. my name is anthony. i'm an attorney in boston but i'm not going to talk to you about performance enhancing drug testing. i'm not going to talk to you about the relationship. i have a more narrow question. in our community, our players and celebrities, our leaders in the philanthropic efforts the benefit our communities, i was wondering if you'd give us a little insight into their thinking and thinking of their advisors and setting up their own individual charitable foundations for every kind of issue that is somehow impacted their lives, rather than often just partnering with well-established existing charities that also are, here, addressing those needs? because just a little background, i've seen over and over a lot of these foundations are utilized for marketing purposes. they don't comply with applicable law, but players like luscious .1, ray allen, where diabetes has affected his family. he didn't go set up his own diabetes foundation. he partnered with the joslin diabetes foundation, a well-established foundation. it seems like a lot of players speak at least some football site i disagree with you. look at guys like larry fitzgerald on our side, i think that from the last time we took a look at it, more of our players set up their own foundations than partner with other ones. and that's what we encourage. i want our young men to be businessmen in the business of football. but that also means that when you have your own sense of worth or die or asset, go out and try do something that is good on the basis of your own value, your own asset. so we spent a lot of time in our office advising those folks on how to set up their own charities. and i think -- there's nothing wrong i was a. have to get a cabinet otherwise ever will come after him. there's nothing wrong with partnering with other well-established charities, but i love the fact that you've got guys like oc who were building villages in his own land of kenya. because, i mean, i kind of dig it. and he is a guy that can step out, especially in the new community and demand that kind of a cent from others to become involved. >> some of them are very effective. some of them, it seems as if they're not getting good advice. >> you know, look at the range. the woman who talked to become an agent. the real question is how do you become a good one? i've been very aggressive about our agents and i'm sure if any of you know them, they whisper to you about what they think of me at times. but it seems to me that they have an obligation the same way that we are lawyers to have a myopic relationship to the person you're representing. and at the end of the day the issue really comes down to how good of a representative you want to be. so to your question, it seems to be if they're doing their job, they are telling these people that there's all sorts of things they can do in their communities to make their communities better. but i think the real focus has to be not always of how do i get into it, but what's going to be the value added. >> let me respond and say that i can't think of any bigger group, philanthropic, professional athletes that exists than the nba. i would say 90% of our players have foundations, and they set them up not under our direction and advice, but usually within the agents are money managers or whatever. i think some instances they were misusing the foundation to find a way to employ their families. what we have historic -- have historically done from time to time, we have a sense of our players, a certain sum of money goes in, for years ago we shipped 10,000 tons of rice to kenya, rise to taiwan, i took a group of players over the. we got the rice and we fed 120,000 kids a day for over a year. and you never read about that, and had no idea that it occurred. when katrina happened we were the first ones on the ground in between. not been. the national backbone players association. we said 90 tractors and trailers full of food and clothing and other items to new orleans and baton rouge. in the case of the world trade center we stepped up and we get to put $5 million to the victims of the world trade center. it was because what we decide, what we want our players to be more involved and more charitable and sensitive to what was happening in the respective communities. so we always encourage our players to do this. we have a litany of things like that that have occurred. and i guess more recently last summer, and ron artest was one of those who went to kenya with me when we delivered the rise, there was a kid who needed a heart operation in kenya. and he paid like $100,000 to have the kid operated on. it was a successful operation, but he got no publicity for the. i can give you a list that nba players should we do and they don't go around announcing. and i think also they need is so great, they're afraid to crack the door because if you crack the door the next thing you know every time we do something, i will get inundated with requests and people around the country who want to make a contribution. we are not a charity that way, and that we're out here you find other charities or organizations. we have a limited pool of revenue, you know, from time to time were able to access. and so we have to be pretty smart about how we use it. >> thank you. we are on the same page. we just need them to be all -- thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm a lawyer from chicago. i'm wondering if either one of you would react to a $49 slave, talk about the evolution of the black athlete. i would like to your comments on that. and also, could you give us some insight into the side being rich, how to become an owner, strategically, what is that process like? what's it mean? i've noticed over the years several, not several but a few african-americans have tried to get into owning teams, with limited success. i'd love to hear what you think about that as well. >> well, i guess i can reference michael jordan and bob johnson, and we know that when bob johnson decided to bid for the establishment of the chicago -- the charlotte bobcats, that it cost him by $300 million. and i think that's part of the dilemma. because he not only had to pay 309 for the franchise, but then you have to have the capital to run it once you get it. so consequently you don't just buy in and then it's off and running. and i don't know, when you look around, how many folks we have in our community who can step up with those kinds of numbers. which have to do story put together a few groups. i assume if you've got a group of people that you think are prepared to buy an nba franchise or are equipped to do it, give me a call. [laughter] give me a call and i will see to it, i will see to it that you get the kind introduction that you need. >> would you say that in terms to a group of lawyers or businesspeople, get together and have those kinds of conversations because i think it's definitely important i think that's a product what we need to do is elevate our game. be thinking about level. the problem with most of us is, you know, i've come out of oakland and i'm fortunate and blessed to be sitting here, but when i was back and talked a lot of my colleagues, i know a lot of them are struggling. they're struggling because they read -- they rely on the black committee for their business. we are the most distress group in the country. and our people need all kinds of legal services, but they don't have the wherewithal. like one hand feeds the other. so i don't know. but i clearly think we need to have these discussions, you know, clearly we have enough ballplayers in the nba that could afford to buy team, but as one of the john deere, they are barred from doing it. they don't allow players to invest in franchises. maybe we have to change the thinking on that. but no, i think it's great. i could said that in the town -- the nba owners are dealing with, if they get the deal from us that they're proposing, that would guarantee them 20 to 30 million per team drop it, then i want to own one of the franchises. because the reality is, i mean, the value of franchise is closely linked. the fact that you got this guaranteed income coming in, so yeah, that's something we should all be looking at. >> thanks for the question. >> hello. good afternoon. thank you. thank you for joining us this afternoon and thank you for speaking. no, recent graduate from law school. my question is about civic engagement. i'm wondering, like you often see teachers unions and like police unions backing the political process advocating donate to a campaign. i'm wondering is there any room for players associations to effective -- to affect the political process? is there any room there? >> look, i made no secret, out of the box we spent a lot of time on capitol hill. we have spent a lot of time in state houses all over the country talking about the economic impact of the lockout. and i note billy has done the same thing. why? everyone focuses on the limited pool of athletes are going to be affected, but down the street at fedex they of nearly 8000 workers at that stadium alone who would lose their jobs if there was no games. you know, countrywide there was upwards of 550,000 people who would be impacted for the lack of the games just in the stadiums alone. you know, forget the bars, restaurants, you know, collateral services. so, you know, i think one of the things that came out of it was our young men got a different perspective of life outside the bubble of football. and i think the way you build on that going forward and away we will build on it going forward is now that we do have, hopefully labor peace for a little while, take that same spirit or understanding that you could impact the ordinary lives of everyday people and move into another direction. but i think you have to do that, because it's the only way to take advantage of the gift not has given you. >> when you look around, talk about role modeling, i think the professional athletes and entertainers in our community are the individuals of the greatest ability to impact the young folk. and so i think we need to become politically active, but then the question is someone referenced $40 million slave our whatever, the book, but part of the problem is you get a player, you know, who has a brief career in the nba and he a struggle all his life to get there. now he gets there and he's looking at all kinds of marketing opportunities, and he's going to make x. millions of dollars per year, and the people around them, you know, a sometime advised them that they should not, there's certain things they should or shouldn't do. but we been think about creating our own political action committee because we ended up making, we wrote a check to the teachers up in wisconsin whoblem so we're saying we need to have her own political activity so we can be more involved. there's someone in the audience who works for me who told me what we needed to do. we have been working on that. >> thank you very much. >> hi. tracy just in san diego. i to question regarding your everyday life when you're not negotiate a contract. you have a 10 year deal now. what do you do every day? [laughter] >> sleep. [laughter] you know, -- [laughter] being careful. because i haven't talked to my wife, and i'm afraid of for. you know, i think the challenge is always about, you know, whether this stuff that you can set, you know, on a mountaintop and tried to climb to get it, whether that's enough to keep going every day. i really haven't given a whole heck of a lot of thought to what happens in the next few years. we have begun mapping out where the players need to be over the next five, 10 year span, so that's what i'm going to work on going forward. i've sort had a lot of conversations with executive committee, you know, they want me to stay, i want to stay pics i know we'll end up working it out, but all of the things that you've heard people talk about are things for us to work on in the next few years. we supervise our agents in the national football league. how do they become, how do we do a better job of making better stewards towards the men they serve? how do we do a better job making the game safer for our players? you know, when i got into the job, we treat concussions in a way that no one treat concussions anymore. i mean, we were able to do that in 15 months. the concussion issue is still there. that needs to get better. long-term health of our retired players needs to be better. there's plenty to do. after i go on vacation. but that's the thought. >> enjoy your vacation. >> i am marty cooper. back to the question about concussions. for the long-term growth for the political we, i'm sure it may impact the growth going forward, but uncertain how you think it will because as were many more about concussions and its impact on players, i'd imagine it lessened the link the players and their careers going forward. so just go thoughts on that. >> coming into the job, i was stunned about where we were in the state about concussions concussions were managed and treated in the national football league, and obvious he the trick will not affect is how it's treated in college and in youth football. so we took a very aggressive position on what we thought needed to occur to make the game safer. i think as medical studies improve we will continue to take very tough stance. one of the things i'm going to leave here and try to finalize negotiating is a medical accountability standards that for the first time we're going to put in the collective bargaining agreement. and i get there was we've had a medical director for about 10 years on our side, but his role, his obligation, the league's obligation to him or her i've never been defined in the cba. so i want to use set a position where the document that governs our business also is a document that gives us tools to address our safety. and yes, there's going to be continuing issues. i mean, i got a report on the way in about a player in philadelphia who collapsed under the heat. so one of the things that i'm going to be jumping on real quick is what that situation is. you know that in this new deal we eliminate to a practices for the first time in history. i will be dead honest -- [applause] i wasn't playing. but that was a huge deal for our players. the fact that that culture of hitting twice a day during training camp, so that's gone. we have limited the number of added practice for the entire season. we have lengthened the term of the off-season and when i tried to great with something called spring semester where just most of our teams are done playing in january, the idea was to push the off-season to late april, early may so that those young guys who drop out of school, to go play football, and outright to avail themselves with a semester of college. [applause] >> so there's stuff to do. >> how are you doing. my name is omar taylor. my question is -- >> i would go back and do a third year again. >> given the fact you are both represent us and advocates for the rights of players, and we respect your ideas, he ideas of revenue sharing, profit sharing. what are your thoughts and some sort of revenue-sharing structure for the collegiate level, the factories players are making millions of dollars for the institutions and receiving wrote to me nothing in return. [laughter] >> we've had that discussion many times. in our office. and i know as it relates to our negotiations, one of the things that the ncaa is pushing for in conjunction with the commission is they want to extend the age limit. so they want to make sure that players stay in college at least through their junior year before they allow to come into the nba. in 2005, when we had pretty much worked out our agreement with the exception of the pending issue of age, in order to bring closure, i agree to give up her year. so it meant that the kid couldn't correctly come from high school. he had to spend at least a year out of high school, j.c. or whatever and then come into the nba. from our perspective you're right. there's a lot of money that is being generated for these colleges by these kids who play. and in our case, particularly basketball, we found there's something like only 17% of the kids go to college or individual schools on bass, scholarships ever graduate. and that's for those who actually study and. and so i think you're right. that's something we have to visit. i think going forward there should be some process put in place, some structure that enables the athlete to get paid. call it the way it is. the in seat eight ends up negotiating, they get paid something like $9 billion over 11 years for march madness. why shouldn't the players participate in a? why should some college coach be paid to a $3 million a year and you go, you play, you get a meal ticket. then on that team, you wear the shoe. so you doing all the stuff to enhance, you know, his quality of life. and i think the players, these universities benefit tremendously. [applause] >> we're at the end of the program. i'm only going to take one more question. >> i'm going to switch gears a little. my name is robert louis and i'm a bankruptcy attorney. for the first time in my lifetime, major league baseball team has filed bankruptcy. how would that affect the players union on both sides, football and basketball, if one of these nba teams or one of the nfl teams filed bankruptcy? >> well, i don't know about filing bankruptcy. we had the case of the new orleans hornets, and the owner was having problems there. so the league stepped in and purchased the team. in our negotiations from time to time, the issue of contraction has come up, and we have said well, if you think you have to contract, then so be it. what it does is obvious impacts the number of jobs, but their counter daily our youth is welcome if you reduce the number of teams, you'll enhance the quality of play. because the office on the other teams will be infused in these teams that might be struggling. i don't see any nba team currently on the horizon that is on the verge of bankruptcy. i think in the case of sacramento kings the representations made how they're having difficulty, but keep in mind, eight, nine, 10 years ago they were one of the pivotal teams in the late and are making money. just because of the quality of players they have. it goes in cycles. if you have a product you can put on the floor people come and see. but if the product gets diminished because of incompetent management and whatever, then folks stay with. so i don't see anything happening with regard to bankruptcy, at least on the horizon your i'm not concerned about in teams going bankrupt. we have people lined the. that's part of the problem. when they say they're losing money, i can't understand why there's a number of people lining up to buy the franchise but it doesn't make sense. i mean, why would someone, if the league is in dire straits, why would someone coming to pay 400, $459 to pay the warriors? it doesn't make sense to me. there were other teams, detroit just over 300. i can name several others. i think our league is in pretty good shape. >> if it did happen -- >> it would have -- but if it happened, then those contracts would have to be liquidated in some kind of way so the league would have to step up and pay them. i don't think those contracts can get bankrupted out. i think there's an obligation with info on the remainder of the league. >> is that something you and your collective bargaining agreement? >> no, not at all. >> look, from a macroeconomic standpoint, the viability of different clubs, we've spent during the course of our negotiation a tremendous amount of time on the macro economics of financial football league. on the system of economics, of teen transition whether teams are maximizing revenue, whether there's some teams, and i will leave them all nameless, but some teams do a tremendous job of driving revenue, driving revenue, driving revenue, and then it seems some teams don't. i think that now is the time for all players in every gene to become vitally involved in economics other game. because what happens on the oversight at times, there could be this mentality that what we do on our site, you know, forget what's happening over there, let's just talk about the players money. no, we are partners in this business. and if you don't take a very aggressive approach on either the system economics or the macroeconomics of your business, you're not serving your players will. >> thank you. >> all right. well, first of all, on behalf of the national bar association i want to thank everybody in the audience for attending this program. but i want to seriously think billy and dee. i know that, i know for a fact, on monday i'm in my room, i turn on the tv and i see illi on espn, like, if i don't know if billy is going to make it. so i know they took a lot, there was a lot for them to get here, to be on this panel. and we really appreciate you guys. you guys are great role model for us as attorneys, as african-americans, and we're very proud of the work you do. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> republican ohio congressman jim jordan speaking today at the young america's foundation national conservative student conference here in washington. congressman jordan is the republican study chair committee, committee chair. he was criticized last week for encouraging outside groups to pressure his fellow republicans to vote against speaker