The NHL and its players’ union remain bitterly deadlocked in their collective bargaining negotiations, as both sides expressed frustration and disappointment after the latest round of talks Thursday.
The NHL Players’ Association tabled three counter-proposals to the league’s latest offer of a 50-50 revenue split, but NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said none of them were acceptable to the league.
“It's clear we're not speaking the same language in terms of what they came back to us with,” Bettman told reporters in Toronto. “The proposal in my view is a step backward.”
Bettman said he is “thoroughly disappointed” and time is running out to salvage a full hockey season.
“This is the best offer we have to make,” he said.
But NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said two of the union’sproposals would see the players take a fixed amount of revenue, which would turn into an approximate 50-50 split over five years, as long as league revenues continue to grow.
The third counter-proposal from the NHLPA would agree to the 50-50 split, as long as the players’ individual contracts are still honoured.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly later said in a news release that offer “is not a 50-50 deal.”
Fehr told reporters the union has worked hard to try reach a deal and players had already agreed to concessions in their last agreement.
Fehr told reporters that players were prepared to have their salaries lowered by another $1.65 billion to $1.8 billion this time around.
“Today was not a good day,” he said. “It should have been, but it's not."
Under their previous seven-year deal, NHL players received 57 per cent of revenue.
The NHL maintained that players needed to take a smaller share of revenue, arguing that it’s become more expensive to keep the league operating. Fehr has said that players don’t mind taking a reduced share of the pot as long as larger clubs assist smaller teams.
In its most recent offer, the NHL also suggested changing the way clubs split revenue, as well as a limit on year-to-year salary changes -- capped at five per cent of its first-year value. In an unusual move, the NHL made all the details of its ten-point proposal available online.
Third lockout in 18 years
The latest NHL lockout began on Sept. 15 at midnight, much to the chagrin of fans who held tickets to pre-season matches. As time wore on, the league cancelled the first two weeks of the 2012-2013 season, a move that many dubbed unnecessary.
The dispute is the NHL’s third lockout in 18 years. According to Daly, the league has already lost at least $250 million in revenue.
The 1994-95 season was thrown into disarray during an 103-day lockout which resulted in the cancellation of 468 games. Another lockout took place in 2004, just as September training camps were about to begin. That clash wasn’t resolved until July 13 the following year.
Not long after the most recent lockout came into effect, many NHL players headed overseas.
Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals went to the KHL’s Dynamo Moscow team, while Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils signed with SKA St. Petersburg. Also playing for the KHL is Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara, who signed up for the league’s new Lev Praha team.
With files from The Canadian Press
