The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement is up after the 2010-2011 season.  The players, who make unlimited amounts of money and have guaranteed contracts that last forever, are negotiating to expand or at least keep those rights with the owners who have been given billions of dollars of tax subsidies from municipalities across the country.

Meanwhile, no matter how you cook the numbers, anecdotal evidence from sportswriters across the league says attendance is down, corporate sponsorship is down, and ad spending on television is down.  So somehow the NBA will have to make an argument to its TV networks that the league is more popular than ever (in order to get a huge TV contract) but also show the Players’ Union that it needs to change its contract structure (so they don’t bankrupt the league.)

Both sides will have to get public opinion on their side.  So, they’ll try to fool folks into thinking they care about the community.  But remember things like this when you see a “Made for TV” charity event in the future (from ESPN.com):

The sides met Friday, with negotiators for the players fortified by the presence of All-Stars such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett, who came to the meeting instead of attending the community service events they were scheduled for.

Well, I’m glad they have their priorities in line.