Bettman sets Sept. 15 deadline for NHL lockout

[IE]

can't stand this idiot bettman !


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Fehr says counter-proposal from players will come on Tuesday


Donald Fehr seemed unfazed when asked Thursday for his reaction to the NHL?s imposition of a Sept. 15 deadline to get a new collective bargaining agreement in place or face a lockout.

The head of the National Hockey League Players Association met with the press shortly after a 90 minute sitdown down between the sides, and refused to take the bait on that deadline.

?Under the law, if an agreement expires, that may give someone the legal ability to go on strike or impose a lockout,? said Fehr, a veteran campaigner in these types of negotiations from his years running the baseball players? union.

?There is no requirement to do so, and if nobody does anything you continue to work under the old conditions until they do things. If there is a lockout, somebody has to choose to do that.?

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman delivered the deadline to the players during the Thursday session and then confirmed it to reporters afterwards.

"I re-confirmed something that the union has been told multiple times over the last nine to 12 months," Bettman said. ?Namely, that time is getting short and the owners are not prepared to operate under this collective bargaining agreement for another season, so we need to get to making a deal and doing it soon.

?And we believe there's ample time for the parties to get together and make a deal and that's what we're going to be working towards."

Deadlines can come and go, but as of now, that would leave 37 days of negotiation to avoid a work stoppage.

The players have suggested repeatedly that the sides could continue bargaining while proceeding under the old agreement, but the NHL would not likely go for that because it would take away a major bargaining chip for the league.

Fehr also confirmed the players would deliver a counter-proposal to the NHL when the sides meet in Toronto on Tuesday.

At the Thursday meeting, the players made a presentation to the owners that basically discredited the league?s proposed revenue sharing system because when combined with the current player compensation rules ?it seems to us overall, and club by club, that all of the revenue sharing payments, both the new ones and existing ones, would paid for by player salary reductions.

?I don?t know if there would be revenue sharing after that, it remains to be seen.?

Asked how far apart the two sides are, Fehr said ?there is a meaningful gulf there.?

Player representatives will now gather for a series of meetings in advance of the Tuesday sit-down with the owners.

 

[kickserv]

I sure hope there is not another lockout:nono:

 

[THUNDER]

I sure hope there is not another lockout:nono:

Not a chance teams were profitable at the end of last year- TV contracts are better. There will be concessions- but bettman does not have owner support for a lockout - They have good thing going.

 

[VMAHARAJ]

Not a chance teams were profitable at the end of last year- TV contracts are better. There will be concessions- but bettman does not have owner support for a lockout - They have good thing going.

Hope you're right Thunder...local media(Toronto) not so optimistic, but what the hell do they know anyway...opcorn2

 

[IE]

2012 NHL CBA Negotiations: Are The Owners A Split Party?



We're a day away from the next official meeting between the NHL and the NHLPA. Wednesday also marks 25 days before the September 15th deadline in which the owners would lock out the players if no new CBA is in place. Needless to say, the CBA negotiations are probably going to hit a fever pitch sooner rather than later.

We discussed recently some of the subtle attacks the NHLPA's offer made against the owners. Donald Fehr very carefully created his proposal with the ideology that they would potentially be able to split up the owners with the idea of revenue sharing; something that's probably a dirty word to bigger market teams while it's a thought that might have some smaller market teams smiling from ear to ear.

After the proposal was reviewed by the NHL, Gary Bettman made a point that the owners understood the offer, but didn't agree with a lot of it. The optimism that Fehr's deal could be a jumping point was gone. So was the hope that the revue sharing proposal would split the owners and create a divided group.

+++++++++++++

Well, thanks to a report from Aaron Portzline, that hope might be rejuvenated. From his article:

Because of this, it's possible that as talks progress, they could pit owner against owner. The small-market owners could find themselves siding with players against the large-market owners, the power-brokers in the league. "I think as many as eight NHL owners would accept the NHLPA's initial proposal," said an NHL player agent who spoke to The Dispatch on the condition of anonymity. "And there's probably four to six others who would find the proposal acceptable enough that they could tweak a couple of things and live with it."

But don't expect any owner to acknowledge that publicly. The NHL has threatened a fine of at least $1 million to any club that speaks out during the lockout.Any disagreement would have to be confined to private talks among owners. One NHL executive toldThe Dispatch last week that Bettman has the "full support of every owner in the room right now."

It's not surprising that an NHL executive would say that Bettman had "the full support of every owner in the room" a week ago. The point of the offer Fehr laid onto the table was supposed to get smaller market teams thinking about the idea of revenue sharing.

Apparently it might have worked, even if it just worked a little. Smaller market teams probably would love to see some of the bigger market's extra money, while the bigger markets want nothing to do with it.

We'll know more tomorrow, but for now, it's time to get these negotiations moving in the right direction.


by Joe Fortunato

 

[Penguinfan]

can't stand this idiot bettman !


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I'm curious as to why you label Betteman as the bad guy here.

I really think this had the chance to be a smooth process right up until Fehr got involved.

The minute Fehr got involved you had to know there would be no easy end to this. I doubt the season starts on time and would be surprised if we see hockey this year.

 

[Mr. Poon]

Sad to see players signing with Russian clubs and no end in the near future.

 

[IE]

Is it all on Bettman? Absolutely not. The owners have to have their best interests in mind, because they assume the risk when buying these franchises. Being a commissioner is a thankless job, and I?d feel a little bit sorry for Bettman if he were making less than the $8 million he earns annually.
The bottom line is that the NHL and the game of hockey itself grew under the previous collective bargaining agreement ? revenue was up from $2.1 billion in 2004 to $3.3 billion last season. The annual jump had been about seven percent per season since the work stoppage.
The last lockout also hurt youth involvement. According to statistics from USA Hockey, participation grew each year from1990-2004.
The two years following the lost season saw the organization lose a total of 18,488 players ? or five percent of its total.
Youth programs eventually feed the NHL, and more involvement helps on all levels, from coaches and officials to fans and players.
Instead of worrying about gaining an 8 percent revenue swing right now, Bettman and his cronies should settle, get players on the ice and continue to expand the sport and its brand throughout the United States and the world.
These negotiations hinder mostly on filling the owners? pockets, instead of growth of the sport, which would eventually fill their pockets anyway. In time, the game would have continued to grow.
The more exposure the league gets through the excitement the sport brings, the better. But for at least the next few weeks, and possibly beyond, the league will get no exposure, because there won?t be anything to watch.



As Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News pointed out in a column this weekend, Bettman?s legacy is at stake here. Back in 2004-05, he won the lockout. The owners loved him for bringing significant change to the league and ousting the NHLPA?s top guns.
But no serious fan of the NHL actually likes what Gary Bettman has done in his 20-year tenure; myself included. He was hired in 1993 to stop the uneasiness in labor, but instead, the opposite has happened. He avoids the tough questions. He has over-expanded the league into markets like Phoenix and Columbus, which struggle to support a team. The players despise him, and there?s no changing that. All he has left is the owners.



The NHL is operating much more efficiently than it was in 2004. Players took a 24 percent cutback then, and the owners are still taking a larger percent of the pie than they were seven years ago. Rightfully so, the players don?t feel like it?s fair.


So the owners are making more money, and the fan support is increasing. I really fail to see the problem here and wonder why an agreement hasn?t been reached.


As supporters of the NHL, we?re backed against a wall. We would love to punish the commissioner for taking away what we love.
But we can?t, because I know when the NHL finally resumes, whether it?s in a month, a year or a decade, I?ll still be watching, and many others would be too.


And Gary Bettman is probably grinning, because as he did in 2004, he?ll win again in 2012, and the owners will get their pockets filled, and he?ll collect his $8 million a year, not really caring what the fans thought about him.