Players say they want pro-rata pay, which seems fair.
Owners say they can't afford that. The loss of ticket sales, concessions, and probable hit to TV revenue is cited. Owners won't open the books, so nobody knows if (or how much) they are lying.
Personally, I can't believe they (the owners) would be so obstinate if they could at least break even. My guess is that a season in the suggested format would cause losses over and above the losses that they are going to take by just cancelling (debt service, yada yada).