Lockout

[yakfisher]

I'll give cousin Eddy a call!

[archerystud]

At this point I think the owners are dug in. From their perspective I don't think a lockout would alienate the fans much more than what has already been done. I quit following all the latest proposals but if they truly are only $182M apart split it and get it done.

At this point I think the players buckle or there is no season.

On the bright side, maybe we'll have more people on the college hockey boards!!!!

[solbes]

Maybe these D Bags on both sides of the coin need to pitch in for Powerball tickets. If they win, they can split the earnings and add that extra few hundred grand they are so desparately missing.

[PierBridge]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1426327-nhl-lockout-how-mediation-could-save-the-2012-2013-season

[itchmesir]

From what I've been understanding from one of my co-workers that's a ref... the local rink has been packed with people for games lately.. If anything this lock-out is only helping local small time hockey... people need their fix so they are going to the local games instead of sitting on their lazyboy watching some goons make more money in one day then they'll make in their entire lives

[Bear55]

Well this is new, owners and players to meet.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=410815

[PierBridge]

This meeting will probably be the deciding factor either way~

Good to see the two henchmen not involved this time~

If a deal is made, I hope they put in a stipulation in that Bettman himself has to pay for the entire Phoenix Coyotes debacle....

[OnAFly]

Heck I would gladly buy the team if they'd let me put it in Hamilton Ontario...but the almighty Leafs would never allow that.

[Scott K]

Quote:

Bill Daly and Steve Fehr addressed the media late Tuesday night after over seven hours of negotiation between a select group of players and owners in New York.

This is the first time that the two sides have addressed the media side-by-side during the negotiation process. Fehr admitted that there is still much work to be done, and the same group will convene again on Wednesday morning before the 11:00am EST Board of Governors meeting. Gary Bettman is also expected to hold a press conference tomorrow at 1:00pm EST. Stay tuned tomorrow for updates on the situation.

[OnAFly]

I'm not too optimistic. The NHL needs to set a hard date in which they will call off the season. Maybe that will entice people to actually move towards an agreement (from both sides).

[PierBridge]

http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2012/12/5/3730192/nhl-lockout-2012-meetings-progress

Leipold is one of the owners present at the meeting.

Do or die this week I presume.

[Musky Buck]

What a mess, just when I thought some marginal viewers were finally tuning and getting the game of hockey, here we are. I'm like the only hockey guru in my town, some were really enjoying the Wild or winter classic etc. Now, what a mess.

[solbes]

Agree on setting a date of no return. If there is no pressure to deal, there will be no deal.

[AaronM]

Sounds like some good news. Thinking a deal may have been reached. 60 games post Christmas.

[PierBridge]

Daniel Alfredsson says he cannot understand what Commissioner Gary Bettman and the N.H.L. owners are trying to accomplish with their lockout.

“Last time around we knew what the league wanted — they had to get a cap,” Alfredsson said Saturday night. “This time around I have a hard time seeing what their game plan is.”

Alfredsson, speaking in the dressing room after Operation Hat Trick, a charity game in Atlantic City to benefit families affected by Hurricane Sandy, has not been alone in wondering why Bettman and the owners are risking their profitable business by remaining intransigent in negotiations despite the sides being so close on so many key issues.

Alfredsson calls that “the frustrating part” of the lockout. He was on the players’ association negotiating committee during the 2004-5 lockout, which resulted in the cancellation of the entire season. But that lockout made sense in that the N.H.L. was losing money and the owners could financially afford to sacrifice a season in an effort to get the players to accept a salary cap.

Now, however, the N.H.L. is a $3.3 billion business, and increasingly profitable. Bettman said last week that the lockout was costing the league $18 million to $20 million a day in lost revenue, roughly half of which would have gone to the owners. That comes to about $700 million the owners have lost so far.

The lockout has also angered sponsors, with the head of Molson Coors saying the company will seek reimbursement from the N.H.L.

Yet Bettman and the owners seem intent on continuing it, even though the two sides are close enough for a quick resolution.

They have gotten the players to agree to a 50-50 revenue split, leaving one substantial difference on economics: the owners have offered $211 million in deferred pay to “make whole” existing contracts over five years, while the players have asked for $393 million.

That $182 million gap works out to about $1.2 million per team, per year over the proposed five-year deal — or about the cost of a third-line forward.

The sides are also split on contract rights, but even those differences seem relatively minor in comparison to what the owners risk by losing a whole season. The owners want to add a year to both the age and the length of service a player must achieve in order to qualify for free agency (28 instead of 27, and eight years’ experience instead of seven). The owners also want to limit contracts to five years, and the players seem willing to accept something closer to seven- or eight-year limit.

Yet the owners have not budged on those issues since the initial proposal they made over the summer.

“Player contracting rights are vital on the players’ side,” Donald Fehr, the executive director of the players’ association, said Saturday. “So far we don’t have a recognition of that.”

Union officials have wondered whether Bettman and the owners have a date in mind at which they will rake in the concessions they have won, compromise on unresolved issues and move to a quick settlement. Perhaps answering Alfredsson’s question as to the owners’ strategy.

If there is such a date, it could be Dec. 5, when the N.H.L. Board of Governors convenes in New York for its annual meeting.

If the governors inform Bettman then that they want to settle, the season could start within a couple of weeks.

Under those circumstances, the hundreds of millions of dollars the owners will have lost would simply be the cost of doing business.

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[Bear55]

Yep do or die time, get it done already!

[itchmesir]

Quote:

Now, however, the N.H.L. WAS a $3.3 billion business, and increasingly profitable. Bettman said last week that the lockout was costing the league $18 million to $20 million a day in lost revenue, roughly half of which would have gone to the owners. That comes to about $700 million the owners have lost so far.

There we go.. Fixed that part.. Or at least will be more relevant once this season is washed

[fishnowworknever]

Sounds like a deal is real close now...today or tomorrow it'll be announced.

It's been rumored that Bettman has requested this deal is done one way or another by Dec 7th.

"kelly hrudy just said on team 1040 in vancouver that the players threatened the owners last night that if this entire process blows up, that certain players and high profile players will refuse to re sign with their current clubs."

[hoppe56307]

I will beleive it when i see it.

[OnAFly]

And you won't see it tonight. Per the usual, Fehr tells everyone how close the two sides are the we hear about the two sides storming off.

[PierBridge]

Yep... no meeting until the weekend ...

[fishnowworknever]

This is all a big staged PR show right now...Bettman might have actually shown some emotion last night but only because he knows there is a set date that he has in the back of his head and it's getting closer...Fehr knows this as well.

At least that's what I keep telling myself

[OnAFly]

I've thought about that too. Is this all show to try and get one little tiny bit more before the deal gets done, just for personal satisfaction for either Bettman or Fehr? I wouldn't be surprised.

[BartmanMN]

With the amount of Press the lockout gets, I'm suprised any of the teams have any fans in the seats. Sure seems like the major sports outlets could care less about "ice" hockey.

Yes, they now call it "ice" hockey, because Field hockey is soooo popular <roll eyes>

[Spike76]

They should take what the owners offer, or go get a real job. When they get paid for playing a kids game, why do they want so much. Get a real job for awhile and you will wish you were playing hockey. Get rid of Donald Fehr, and let the players vote on it.