Bettman makes an announcement

[oldskool]

If I'm posting this too early, I apologize.

But according to the NHL webpage, Bettman will be holding a press conference Wednesday at 1PM concering the CBA.

I hold out hope that they'll announce a temporary agreement to save this season award the cup and begin serious discussion again at the end of the playoffs.

Final thoughts before what could be last call for the 04-05 NHL season?

[Guest Wrestlekid]

Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio said that he'd be happy with like 5 "preseason" games to get everyone warmed up.

And then throw everyone into a giant playoff. I think that'd be a whole hell of a lot of fun to watch, but, alas, I don't think that'll ever happen. :/

[thatshortguy]

Sadly, I do believe this is the nail in the coffin for this year. Although the concept of everybody doing five preseason games, 20-ish or so season games and then a huge playoff sounds awesome.

But that's just my need for hockey talking.

[sahyder1]

I'm still holding out some minor hopes for a settlement. Lamarielo was on the radio here today talking about the proposed 28 game schedule where you'd face every team in your conference twice. Everyone knows that the NHLPA is gonna lose this at this point......it'd be smart for them to take the loss now rather then next January.

Barry Melrose brought up something on ESPN today that I hadn't even thought about yet. To qualify for the NHLPA pension plan you need to have played 400 games in the NHL. That's 5 seasons right there. The average NHL career is 2.7 years. A lot of guys are gonna end up getting screwed longterm because of this lost year.

[sahyder1]

2003-04 NHL Payrolls

NHLPA offers cap, NHL rejects it

Canadian Press

2/15/2005

NEW YORK (CP) - The No. 1 issue that has plagued the NHL lockout went out the window Monday night when the NHL Players' Association offered a deal that included a $52-million US salary cap.

But the deal was rejected by the NHL.

The surprising move was made by NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin during his secret meeting with NHL executive vice-president Bill Daly in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

According to an NHLPA statement, Daly began the process Monday by offering a $40-million salary cap without ''linkage'' - a fixed link between player costs and league revenues, which has long been the centrepiece of the NHL's bid for cost certainty.

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The union counter-offered with the $52-million team-by-team salary cap. The players' proposal also featured more aggressive payroll tax thresholds and tax rates on team payrolls.

''It is indeed unfortunate that with the major steps taken by both sides today we were unable to build enough momentum to reach an agreement,'' Saskin said in a statement released early Tuesday morning.

The union's offer also included the 24 per cent salary rollback on all existing contracts.

These latest developments came as the NHL announced a news conference for Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST in New York when commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to announce the cancellation of the 2004-2005 season.

While no talks were planned for Tuesday, the fact that both sides made dramatic moves from their longstanding positions Monday night could spur on more last-ditch efforts to save the season.

As it stands, the players have finally accepted a salary cap for the first time in their history while the league gave up on linkage. Now the two sides are separated by $12 million on their cap figures. And with the rollback, two-thirds of the league's teams would be under $40 million.

But is it too late?

Earlier on Monday night, the league sent out a statement saying talks between Daly and Saskin produced ''no progress.''

Bettman's news conference was originally slated for Tuesday, according to a source, but pushed back a day as Daly and Saskin met late into the night.

It all made for a roller-coaster day.

''I've said all along, until someone tells me it's over, it's not,'' Devils GM and CEO Lou Lamoriello said from his New Jersey office Monday. ''It's too easy to be negative.

''There's no question we have something scheduled at this point for Wednesday. It's looking very bleak right now but it's not over.''

The Devils boss also offered some advice.

''To me, let's get rid of all these buzz words (salary cap, luxury tax) and get something done that works for everybody,'' he said.

Should the worst happen Wednesday, the NHL will become the first major professional league in North America to cancel an entire season from start to finish. But Bettman says the damage the NHL will suffer as a result is worth it in order to get ''cost certainty'' for his owners.

The NHL and the union met for more than five hours with U.S. federal mediators in Washington on Sunday but still could not make any progress. Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow were not at the meeting. Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, and outside counsel Bob Batterman represented the league while Saskin, the NHLPA's senior director, and outside counsel John McCambridge were there for the union.

So much of the season has already been scrapped. Through Monday, 824 of the 1,230 regular-season games have gone by the wayside.

If an agreement can still be reached, the league has a shortened schedule ready to go that would see teams play 28 regular-season games, playing only within their conference. The playoffs would stay the same and consist of four rounds.

[Cactus Drags]

Wait, the players finally accepted a cap, but the owners rejected it?

for fuck sake, it really makes you feel like banging your head against a wall.

[sahyder1]

Wait, the players finally accepted a cap, but the owners rejected it?

for fuck sake, it really makes you feel like banging your head against a wall.

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[Miami Vice]

Wait, the players finally accepted a cap, but the owners rejected it?

for fuck sake, it really makes you feel like banging your head against a wall.

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well the players accepted it but it was at $52 million. The owners want it at $40. They are gonna have to find a middleground somewhere. The players need to accept a lower cap then the $52 million but the ownerws need to throw them a bone with a basement clause at around $30 million. That'd be more then fair considering the players have already offered to roll back 24$ of their salaries.

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[Mike67]

So Bettman thinks that the damage caused by a cancellation of the season is worth whatever they get for a deal in the end??

Ummm Should someone get Bettman to call Bud Selig and talk to him about the last MLB strike??

Considering that in most parts of the States there seems to be little to no caring about the lack of NHL hockey, it'll be a LOT worse than Bettman can even dream of..

[Guest Mike Dude]

I don't know if any of you heard about this but I read a while ago (Bettman denied these allegations) but he's supposed to get a million dollar bonus if he gets a cap in the CBA.

The NHL is making a final offer a cap at 44.7mill$, you can read full info here:

http://www.nhlcbanews.com/news/bettman_letter021505.html

I really fucking hope the Union just accepts this.

I mean this would be fucking awesome, we'd be part of history. Free agency in late february, short season, Penguins vs Coyotes in the Stanley Cup finals, with a short season everybody's got a shot!

[Toe]

What I hate about this lockout is that they new the CBA was up, but they didnt negotiate at all during the summer! They waited until December to do any serious talking!

[sahyder1]

I'm pretty sure we'll see an agreement by 1 PM ET tomorrow. I think it's gonna be in the 42-45 million range with a basement at somewhere between 30 and 33. It's pretty much the best deal the NHLPA is gonna get

[Dogbert]

The negotiations are dead. It's over.

[Magus978]

The inevitable has happened. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is on now announcing the cancellation of the 2004-2005 NHL season. I for one miss the NHL. I miss watching my Devils and Islanders.

Hopefully they find a way to settle before next season gets into any doubt.

[The Sultan of Swank]

they'll probably not talk for a while now. Goddamn.

I really believe that when this is all done, Bettman should be fired.

Now I'm not saying this is all his fault, but 2 lockouts in 10 years and 1 lost season. I'd yank him.

[Laice07]

When I stood before you in September, I said NHL teams would not play again until our economic problems had been solved," Bettman said.

"As I stand before you today, it is my sad duty to announce that because that solution has not yet been attained, it no longer is practical to conduct even an abbreviated season. Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play for 2004-05."

The NHL is planning for the 2005-06 season, and will pursue more labour talks but Bettman warned the league is going to have to look at a "completely different economic model and it is going to have to have linkage (between revenue and player salary costs)."

"The best deal that was on the table is now gone," he added.

Bettman's announcement before a packed house at a New York hotel came after a flurry of offers and counter-offers failed to produce an end to the lockout.

"This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided," Bettman said.

All 30 clubs scheduled news conferences to follow Bettman's announcement.

The two sides appeared close after both came out of their philosophical trenches to agree to a salary cap (the union) and remove the linkage between player salaries and revenues (league).

In the end, the league was offering a $42.5-million US salary cap, while the union offered $49 million. The difference was $6.5 million - that's what winger Owen Nolan made for the Maple Leafs last season.

"We weren't as close as people were speculating . . . We were still very far apart," Bettman said, noting that $6.5 million multiplied by 30 teams is close to $200 million.

The commissioner was calm and collected during his news conference, appearing like a professor as he outlined the differences between the two sides.

The NHL becomes the first of the four major professional sports in North America to cancel an entire season from beginning to end.

For those keeping count, 834 of the NHL's 1,230 games this season had already been wiped out by Wednesday.

"What we must do now is not about the present or the short-term needs of this season. Rather, it is about the future of our league and 30 teams," Bettman said.

The league has said teams lost $273 million in 2002-03 and $224 million last season, and an economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players get 75 per cent of league revenues. The union disputes those figures.

Bettman cited the union's distrust of those numbers as a major reason for why talks were so difficult.

"The union has constantly said they don't trust our numbers," he said. "We've asked them for five years to audit our books and they've refused."

The ripple effect of cancelling the season has already started. The league says the 2005 entry draft won't be held. But league officials maintain they will create a schedule for 2005-2006, including pre-season games.

The key stumbling block remained a salary cap - even when they both agreed to one. They just couldn't agree on which one - the league putting out its stall at $42.5 million with the union at $49 million.

The average team payroll last season, factoring in the 24 per cent rollback on all existing salaries both sides counted into their offers, would have been $33.95 million.

Including the rollback, four teams are currently over the $42.5-million figure and that's before signing any free agents. Detroit ($43.38 million), New Jersey ($46.32 million), Philadelphia ($50 million) and Toronto ($46.6 million) would be over. Dallas ($40.77 million) and Colorado ($40.27 million) would be on the bubble without signing anyone else.

Looking at the numbers without the proposed rollback, the Red Wings topped the list last season at $82.9 million, with Pittsburgh at the other end of the spectrum at $21.65 million.

Toronto led all Canadian franchises at $72.8 million, followed by Ottawa ($48.55 million), Montreal ($47 million), Vancouver ($46.8 million), Calgary ($40 million) and Edmonton ($35.7 million).

The league should have been basking in the glow of the all-star game scheduled for last Sunday in Atlanta. Instead it is officially sporting a black eye.

While Canada can boast triumphs at the world junior hockey championships and the World Cup of Hockey, the NHL has stumbled from one bad news story to another in recent months. Former NHLer Mike Danton languishes in prison for a botched hit-man plot, Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley escaped jail time for a fatal car crash and Vancouver Canucks power forward Todd Bertuzzi agreed to a suspended sentence plea bargain after assaulting Colorado's Steve Moore.

Many hockey fans have already moved on, tired of the bickering between owners and players.

There has been little sympathy for hockey players whose average salary was $1.8 million US last season - the equivalent of lottery winnings for most Canadians - and owners who can't balance their own books in deciding how much to pay them.

Contrast that with the median Canadian income - half the country made more and half made less - of $24,300 in 2002. Using the last NHL offer, nearly 1,750 average Canadians would fit under the $42.5-million salary cap.

In reality, the high cost of NHL tickets and the watering down of the product had taken a toll long before this labour dispute.

And even though hockey is king in Canada, Canadians have found other forms of entertainment. And with most facing long work hours and no shortage of family responsibilities, there are plenty of more pressing issues. Life goes on.

Still Canadians are expected to come back when the puck finally drops. That may not be the case in some of the league's 24 U.S. cities. Atlanta GM Don Waddell has already suggested his season ticket base of 8,000 has been halved.

The owners invested in a $300-million lockout fund that would ensure they could last an entire year without hockey.

The players, in turn, are receiving between $5,000 to $10,000 a month in lockout pay and there's enough from the initial rollout to last through November 2006. And there's more in the coffers if necessary.

Overall, the NHL and NHLPA held 38 CBA meetings together, 14 in 2003, 14 in 2004 and 10 in 2005. The first came when NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow and Bettman secretly met Jan. 6, 2003, in New York. That led to a series of meetings that were kept quiet until a much-publicized gathering in Toronto on Oct. 1, 2003, when the NHLPA made its first proposal, one highlighted by a five per cent salary rollback.

For the record, the last NHL game was played last June 7 in Tampa Bay, when the Lightning beat the Calgary Flames 2-1 in Game 7 to capture the Stanley Cup.

In the meantime, more than 350 NHL players have taken their act to Europe, although some have returned home after short stints.

Still, the likes of Jaromir Jagr, Jose Theodore, Vincent Lecavalier, Alexei Kovalev, Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, Brendan Morrison and Saku Koivu are playing overseas.

The NHL's last lockout 10 years ago ended Jan. 11, 1995, when an 11th-hour deal was reached and a 48-game regular season was salvaged. The New Jersey Devils capped a four-game sweep in the Stanley Cup final on June 24, 1995.

The Stanley Cup will not be awarded for the first time since the Spanish flu halted the 1919 final between Montreal and Seattle.

Even the Second World War couldn't stop the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"The National Hockey League was formed in 1917, and it has played a season through to a championship in every year but 1919," Bettman said.

"Through the decades and the generations we have faced a variety of crises and challenges - some of which seemed catastrophic at the time. The league persevered through all those adversities and the league will persevere through this one, as well - to emerge with a framework for the future, one that is fair to everyone - where our players are fairly paid, receiving what we can afford - no more, no less."

Link

World War 2 couldn't stop the NHL season but 6.5 Million dollars can!! Bettman should be fired, and when he does, I'll be so happy.

I miss my hockey fix

[naiwf]

Why should Bettman lose his job when he did exactly what the owners wanted him to do? If anything, I'd expect he'll get an extension or a raise.

[oldskool]

He may get an extension now, but when this lockout ends and hockey is back to playing in front of empty American seats, we'll see how eager they are to keep Bettman and Goodenow around.

And Bettman rejected the cap partially because of the lack of a link between revenue and player salaries, but according to that article they worked that out.

I don't see why they couldn't just take the offer laid out by Goodenow for one season, save hockey and the Cup tradition, avoid a strike that will probably end both of their leadership careers in hockey and have another 8 months to negotiate another CBA before the 05-06 season.

[Malenko]

damn that Owen Nolan

EDIT: Before anyone comes to tell me how he's not the cause of this, this was just a joke.

Edited February 16, 2005 by Malenko

[sahyder1]

they'll probably not talk for a while now. Goddamn.

I really believe that when this is all done, Bettman should be fired.

Now I'm not saying this is all his fault, but 2 lockouts in 10 years and 1 lost season. I'd yank him.

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