Will the NBA Use Replacement Referees?

When ESPN's Mark Stein broke the news a few weeks ago that negotiations between the NBA and its referees union had reached an impasse, it came as a footnote during an otherwise dull period for sports. And today, when Stein floated the idea of the NBA using replacement referees, well, it's still a footnote. It's football season, you see. We'll start talking about basketball season when Halloween arrives.

Stiil, it's a move that figures to have significant bearing on at least the first few months of this season. Stein reports:

One source said Tuesday that the referees have proposed a reduction of $2.5 million -- roughly $700,000 away from the NBA's target -- but added that the refs are bracing for a lockout at this point after Stern "shut [Tuesday's] meeting down."

The source said: "We anticipate that there will be replacement refs."

"I think it would be accurate to say that we had the meeting, that we didn't make any progress and that there are no future meetings scheduled," Stern said Tuesday night in a telephone interview with NBA TV. "... Referees are a valuable part of our game and we've tried to treat them accordingly."

The NBA's officiating is certainly not a strongsuit--perhaps the one group that would engender less support than the players union would be the refs. Still, to quibble over such a narrow disagreement--$700,000 is not much alongside the NBA's $930 million-a-year in television revenues--seems to speak to larger message from the league. In the midst of a down economy and with myriad teams in the throes of financial crisis, the league is in no mood to negotiate.

So, then: who wants to remake The Replacements and Forget Paris into one, awesome romantic comedy?