NHL Cancellation by the end of the weekend
Finally, some closure! I am fully with Gary Bettman and the Owners on this one, they offered another good offer to the NHLPA, and ofcourse the NHLPA rejected it. IMO the NHL has done next to everything to get a deal done, by weakening their proposals ect. The NHLPA and Bob Goodenow are stubborn as hell.
http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=114287&hubName=nhl
The NHL said it was its best shot. The NHL Players' Association called it a sham.
Another offer rejected, and this time that may finally be it.
Both sides met for a late dinner Wednesday night and planned to speak again Thursday morning, but it appears the cancellation of the season is finally around the corner after the league announced a weekend deadline to get a deal on paper.
"The likelihood that we would be able to conclude an agreement by the end of the weekend? Very daunting," NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow said Wednesday night. "It would be very difficult."
So be it, said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, warning the NHLPA that any future proposal won't get any better as the industry suffers through a wipe-out season.
"I think there will be a tremendous amount of damage, the amount of revenues will obviously decline if we don't play this season and therefore whatever the players would expect going forward is going to be diminished," he said at a news conference following a secret meeting with the union.
"The deal can only get worse, from a technical matter and as an economic matter, the longer we go without a new deal. That's not a threat, that's simply the reality of where we find ourselves."
It's a chance the players are willing to take, Goodenow said.
"It's really not whether there's a better deal or a worse deal, it's the right deal, it's the fair deal - we've always been focused on those principles," Goodenow said on a conference call Wednesday night.
"What we're looking for is the right deal. The players are absolutely focused on that."
Under the league's new offer, the collective bargaining agreement would begin with the union's Dec. 9 proposal - which featured a luxury tax - then evolve into the league proposal of Feb. 2 - based on a salary cap - if it was deemed that the union's model no longer worked.
Four so-called triggers would decide when the model would switch:
- If the league pays out more than 55 per cent of its revenues in salaries.
- If any three teams have a payroll of more than $42 million US.
- If the average payroll of the three highest-spending teams is more than 33 per cent higher than the average of the three lowest spending teams.
- If average team compensation exceeds $36.5 million.
The way Goodenow sees it, the switch would happen right after the shortened season.
"Even after our 24 per cent rollback and before clubs would sign any new players, we forecast over three teams would be over the $42-million level. So just at first blush, a trigger would be met," he argued.
The league says it's premature to try and determine if those triggers would be attained right away. In the end, it's another battle on numbers, something the two sides have been doing for over two years.
Bettman stands by the league's effort to compromise.
"We really gave this our best shot. This is what we believe we need," Bettman said. "One owner just said to me on the phone that this was an extremely generous offer," Bettman added. "And I think he may have been chastising me for it."
But Goodenow called the offer an "ill-conceived concept" and made it clear the union would not re-visit it.
"The league's proposal today was a transparent attempt to impose on our Dec. 9 proposal the effects of their twice-rejected Feb. 2 triple-cap proposal," he said. "The NHL knows our Dec. 9 proposal was never designed to meet the effects of their triple-cap proposal and at least one of the stipulated events would be immediately triggered."
So what now? One thing is certain, the union won't come armed with a counter-proposal Thursday.
"We'll have conversations about these difficult areas and see if we can't come up with an idea, a framework or a mechanism for some common ground," Goodenow said.
But it's the failure to find that common ground that prompted the league to come up with the idea for their new offer.
"We don't seem to be able to come up with a middle ground or third way to do this. It's not that we haven't tried," Bettman said.
But in the end, cost certainty remains a key, and that's why the triggers lead to a salary cap.
"We don't want to have a future where we are spending more than we can afford," Bettman said. "We've had enough of that."
Short of a miracle agreement that neither side believes is a good bet at this point, Bettman will indeed hold a news conference to officially cancel the season, putting to rest the rumours that the league would never formally do so.
"I believe that I owe it to our fans, our business partners, all the people that work in and about the game, that I'm going to have to make an official announcement," Bettman said.
Should the season be saved, Bettman said the NHL would play a 28-game season with each team playing a home-and-home series with its conference rivals. The playoff format would remain the same. The season would start in the last week on this month.
So much has already been lost.
The NHL playoffs were slated to begin in just over nine weeks. As it stands, 813 of the 1,230 games scheduled for the regular season have gone by the wayside through Wednesday. The all-star game in Atlanta was supposed to be Sunday.
Bettman apologized to hockey fans and those who make their livelihood from hockey.
"This has just been a very difficult, frustrating progress and again we're sorry we have to go through it. But we had no choice. That's the reality of where we find ourselves."
The league and union had not met since talks broke off last Friday in New York. This time, however, outside counsel Bob Batterman (NHL) and John McCambridge (NHLPA) were left behind.
Only Bettman, executive vice-president Bill Daly, Goodenow and NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin were in Wednesday's meeting.
Goodenow and Bettman rejoined the talks last Thursday after missing five negotiating sessions last month.
http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=114287&hubName=nhl
The NHL said it was its best shot. The NHL Players' Association called it a sham.
Another offer rejected, and this time that may finally be it.
Both sides met for a late dinner Wednesday night and planned to speak again Thursday morning, but it appears the cancellation of the season is finally around the corner after the league announced a weekend deadline to get a deal on paper.
"The likelihood that we would be able to conclude an agreement by the end of the weekend? Very daunting," NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow said Wednesday night. "It would be very difficult."
So be it, said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, warning the NHLPA that any future proposal won't get any better as the industry suffers through a wipe-out season.
"I think there will be a tremendous amount of damage, the amount of revenues will obviously decline if we don't play this season and therefore whatever the players would expect going forward is going to be diminished," he said at a news conference following a secret meeting with the union.
"The deal can only get worse, from a technical matter and as an economic matter, the longer we go without a new deal. That's not a threat, that's simply the reality of where we find ourselves."
It's a chance the players are willing to take, Goodenow said.
"It's really not whether there's a better deal or a worse deal, it's the right deal, it's the fair deal - we've always been focused on those principles," Goodenow said on a conference call Wednesday night.
"What we're looking for is the right deal. The players are absolutely focused on that."
Under the league's new offer, the collective bargaining agreement would begin with the union's Dec. 9 proposal - which featured a luxury tax - then evolve into the league proposal of Feb. 2 - based on a salary cap - if it was deemed that the union's model no longer worked.
Four so-called triggers would decide when the model would switch:
- If the league pays out more than 55 per cent of its revenues in salaries.
- If any three teams have a payroll of more than $42 million US.
- If the average payroll of the three highest-spending teams is more than 33 per cent higher than the average of the three lowest spending teams.
- If average team compensation exceeds $36.5 million.
The way Goodenow sees it, the switch would happen right after the shortened season.
"Even after our 24 per cent rollback and before clubs would sign any new players, we forecast over three teams would be over the $42-million level. So just at first blush, a trigger would be met," he argued.
The league says it's premature to try and determine if those triggers would be attained right away. In the end, it's another battle on numbers, something the two sides have been doing for over two years.
Bettman stands by the league's effort to compromise.
"We really gave this our best shot. This is what we believe we need," Bettman said. "One owner just said to me on the phone that this was an extremely generous offer," Bettman added. "And I think he may have been chastising me for it."
But Goodenow called the offer an "ill-conceived concept" and made it clear the union would not re-visit it.
"The league's proposal today was a transparent attempt to impose on our Dec. 9 proposal the effects of their twice-rejected Feb. 2 triple-cap proposal," he said. "The NHL knows our Dec. 9 proposal was never designed to meet the effects of their triple-cap proposal and at least one of the stipulated events would be immediately triggered."
So what now? One thing is certain, the union won't come armed with a counter-proposal Thursday.
"We'll have conversations about these difficult areas and see if we can't come up with an idea, a framework or a mechanism for some common ground," Goodenow said.
But it's the failure to find that common ground that prompted the league to come up with the idea for their new offer.
"We don't seem to be able to come up with a middle ground or third way to do this. It's not that we haven't tried," Bettman said.
But in the end, cost certainty remains a key, and that's why the triggers lead to a salary cap.
"We don't want to have a future where we are spending more than we can afford," Bettman said. "We've had enough of that."
Short of a miracle agreement that neither side believes is a good bet at this point, Bettman will indeed hold a news conference to officially cancel the season, putting to rest the rumours that the league would never formally do so.
"I believe that I owe it to our fans, our business partners, all the people that work in and about the game, that I'm going to have to make an official announcement," Bettman said.
Should the season be saved, Bettman said the NHL would play a 28-game season with each team playing a home-and-home series with its conference rivals. The playoff format would remain the same. The season would start in the last week on this month.
So much has already been lost.
The NHL playoffs were slated to begin in just over nine weeks. As it stands, 813 of the 1,230 games scheduled for the regular season have gone by the wayside through Wednesday. The all-star game in Atlanta was supposed to be Sunday.
Bettman apologized to hockey fans and those who make their livelihood from hockey.
"This has just been a very difficult, frustrating progress and again we're sorry we have to go through it. But we had no choice. That's the reality of where we find ourselves."
The league and union had not met since talks broke off last Friday in New York. This time, however, outside counsel Bob Batterman (NHL) and John McCambridge (NHLPA) were left behind.
Only Bettman, executive vice-president Bill Daly, Goodenow and NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin were in Wednesday's meeting.
Goodenow and Bettman rejoined the talks last Thursday after missing five negotiating sessions last month.
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