NHLPA accepts salary cap 1 hour ago

[Arlos]

BTW, as it says in the article, only 8 teams would be over the 40mil mark given the 24% salary rollback, which has become something of a given at this point.


By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK - In what could be a last-second breakthrough, both sides of the NHL lockout have given significant ground: The players' association will accept a salary cap, and the league has backed off its demand for a link between revenues and player costs.

Now they just have to figure out the money, and time has all but run out.

Even while the negotiations were going on, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman already had planned to announce the cancellation of the season Wednesday, a source close to the negotiations told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday.

Bettman was slated to speak Wednesday in New York, but the NHL declined to give details beyond the time and location.

The NHL offered to give in on linkage, a "significant move in the players' direction" the union said early Tuesday following a meeting in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

But when the players offered to accept a cap at $52 million in return _ the first time they came off their opposition to a ceiling on salaries _ the offer was rejected by the NHL. The league insisted on a salary cap that topped out at $40 million per team.

"It is indeed unfortunate that with the major steps taken by both sides we were unable to build enough momentum to reach an agreement," players' association senior director Ted Saskin said.

The NHL had no comment Tuesday on the union's statement.

No new talks were immediately scheduled, but with the philosophical differences now bridged, there appeared to be room for the sides to negotiate dollar figures.

"We probably could've gotten this thing done in the summertime," Chicago forward Matthew Barnaby said. "Am I mad, no? I want to get back to work. But at the same time, I'm just a little disappointed that it went this far to play poker and to have someone call your bluff."

The 24 percent rollback on all existing contracts, originally offered by the union on Dec. 9, as well as more aggressive luxury tax rates and thresholds, were included in the players' counteroffer.

Buffalo Sabres player representative Jay McKee was surprised Tuesday when he heard the union would accept a cap.

"If that's where we were going, I wonder why now," he said.

With the major stumbling blocks now out of the way, the sides are only $12 million apart on what each team's cap should be. With the salary rollback, only eight of the 30 teams would be above $40 million.

Until now, Bettman insisted that the 30 teams know what their costs will be each season. The only way, he said, that could be achieved was to tie to the amount of player costs to a percentage of league revenues.

That was a solution the players' association refused.

NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly was the only other person involved in the meeting that wrapped up early Tuesday. The NHL reported that no progress was made, but didn't reveal any details of what was discussed.

If a deal is not reached quickly, the NHL would become the first major professional league in North America to lose an entire season because of a labor dispute. The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1919, when a flu epidemic canceled the finals.

But more than two-thirds of the season and the All-Star game already have been lost to a lockout that started Sept. 16.

Bettman said the sides needed to start putting a deal on paper by last weekend if the NHL was going to hold a 28-game season and a full 16-team playoff. The regular season normally is 82 games.

Even a session with a federal mediator Sunday in Washington couldn't produce an agreement. But it did lead to the breakthrough in talks Monday.

Bettman had said teams needed to have cost certainty to survive and the only way he could guarantee that was with a salary cap that linked league revenues to player costs. Now that position has changed for the first time since the NHL started gearing up for the lockout in 1998.

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 percent of league revenues. The union has challenged those figures.

A cap had been an automatic deal-breaker for the union even though it agreed that the financial landscape was flawed. The players' association contended that there are many other ways to fix it.

"There is no question the system has to change," said New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello, who took part in earlier negotiating sessions. "We just have to keep working to find a solution. It's unfortunate we have to come this.

"If the season does end, we can't stop. We have to continue working at this and get it rectified as soon as we possibly can."

Monday, the 152nd day of the lockout, was to have been the last day of the All-Star break; the festivities in Atlanta were called off months earlier. Through Monday, 824 of the 1,230 regular-season games have been lost.

"Everybody has to take responsibility," Lamoriello said.

The sides have traded proposals throughout the lockout, but the salary cap had always been the sticking point. Other issues such as arbitration, revenue-sharing, and rookie caps never reached the true negotiating stage because the sides couldn't agree on the big issue.

In recent days, the union and league seemed adamant that they wouldn't budge.

"We're done," Saskin said Thursday after talks broke off.

On Sunday, Daly said: "We will not be reaching out to them."

[vonkaar]

[Phlegm]

The players' union is bent over, getting ready to take it up the ass. 24% reduction in salary and a 40 million dollars cap unbelievable.

[Kaemon]

Nothing is set in stone yet. The only thing concrete is the players will accept a salary cap. Originally the Players want it at an expendature of max 52 million min 37 million. The owners want a maximum of 40 million. As of now players lowered their max offer to 49 million. In the end I feel the owners and players will meet a common ground of a hard number and both will probably accept a maximum of 46 or 47 million with a minimum expendature of 31/32 million.

Bettman can still come out tomorrow and cancel the season. Even if they agree on a Salary Cap, there will probably still be issues to discuss and getting everything all ironed out.

Then again, if they don't. The best idea I've heard so far if they intend of having a season would be like a march madness type tournament. All teams are in the playoffs, best of 5 series till the final four, then best of 7. Teams will be tiered based on last years record. This should generate revenue in all markets if fans realize their team has a shot at the Stanley Cup right from the get go.

[Diekan]

It's to bad no one cares, or even knows what's going on. It's to bad too, because Hockey isn't bad.

I wonder if the players' union realizes just how unpopular Hockey really is? Of all the people I know, not a single one is a fan of Hockey... maybe one or two will go to a game now and then. Other than that they don't have a clue of "whose who" in the game, hell most of them couldn't name but a few teams in the league.

I don't have anything against the sport... which is to say that if I had to choose between watching a new episode of Battlestar Gallatica on SciFi and a hockey game... well BG wins, BUT I do think it's an ok sport.

I feel sorry for the fans who've had to miss out on a season. I know I would be highly pissed if the NFL had another strike and I had to miss an entire season. But, in all honesty, I just don't care enough about hockey to get upset. Unfortunetly for the true fans of hockey, most of America feels the same as I do, at least seemingly so.

My question is: With a sport who's popularity is probably beneith that of tennis, where does the union think the money is going to come from to fund their salaries? I mean it's not like the NFL, or the NBA both of whom have 100's of millions of fan world wide sinking money into everything from tickets to ball caps. Just curios where this union thinks the league, that has a very low level of popularity, is going to get the money of a sport like football.

[Malluas]

it doesn't really matter they screwed themselves.. if they gave in earlier it could have kinda saved them.. the season is almost over.. whats the point

[Zanchief]

You guys really have no clue how popular hockey is over here.

If the only professional league was all you whiners playing with a stack of newspapers taped to your legs it would still be the highest rated show in Canada.

There's a good chance that the NHL loses a few small market American teams, but Hockey will never die. We just won't let it.

[fefn]

Hockey will never die. We just won't let it

A-fucking-men

[Kaemon]

Season cancelled
Wasn't it the few Canadian teams that declared bankruptcy the past couple of years? How come the Canadian fans supporting their teams?

[Kitao]

Quebec, Winnipeg.

[Arlos]

While I can see the disturbance seeing Quebec's team leave, you've got to admit that they ended up pretty well off after the move. Absolutely rabid fan base, and vast amounts of success to go with it. So, that move certainly was a better one than some of the others, where teams have moved to weird spots and ended up with half full arenas all the time.

Oh, and what's the current ratio of Canadian teams to US teams? Even way back when, it was predominantly american teams, yes? After all, 4 of the Original 6 were US teams, yes?

-Arlos

[Kaemon]

Yeah, but they left a country where "hockey will never die".

That's my point.

[Tuggan]

Canada is down to Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and the Ottawa Senators. So 6 outta 30.

Hockey is huge in the Northern Midwest and Northeast parts of the USA too. Several cities like Dallas, LA, SJ, Denver, and St. Louis have large followings. Shit, its even picking up in Florida. More and more American kids are playing hockey, and college hockey is getting pretty popular as well.

Hockey in general is looking better, the NHL on the other hand isnt doing so hot. Bettman was supposed to come in and make the NHL explode, the cocksucker had never even been to a fucking game. They hired him in because he supposedly did well with the NBA as an assistant or something. Instead he spit all over the history and rivalaries that made Hockey such a rich sport, over expanded the league, and pushed out a buncha the old fans and hardly brought any new ones in.

[Arlos]

I agree that Bettman is probably not the best choice to be commish of the NHL. Heh, they should elect Gretzky to the job. He's been an owner as well as a player, and you know the players would listen if it was HIM telling them the stuff that they're crying BS on when Bettman says it. That might be something of an ideal way for hockey to get attention again, too. Announce they're tossing out Bettman and putting in the best hockey player ever, Gretzky in charge of the whole thing.

Oh, and I can definitely confirm SJ's strong following for the sharks. Even when they were awful, they still consistently sold the place out. Part of it is that San Jose has always existed in San Francisco's shadow, despite actually being a larger city, with SF having the 49ers and the Giants, and so SJ gets a major team of their own, and insta-rabid-fandom. I've been to several games at the Tank, and it's really an awesome atmosphere. So, the NHL not playing this year is especially galling 'round here, especially considering it seemed like the team was really poised to have a real shot at a Cup run. Great young talent that is coming into its own, etc.

-Arlos

[Mop]

day late and a dollar short, thank god for the AHL and Euro Hockey.

I hope the owners loose lots of money on this, fucking pathetic.

[Phlegm]

The players' union representatives and the owners going to meet tomorrow to see if they can still salvage the season. The soap opera continue......

[Kaemon]

day late and a dollar short, thank god for the AHL and Euro Hockey.

I hope the owners loose lots of money on this, fucking pathetic.

I'm actually siding with the owners on this. Some franchises were losing money left and right and something needed to be done to fix a situation that was rapidly spirialing downward.

I think the players forgot they were playing hocky and not baseball (strongest union in the nation).

Let's not forget all the spots euro and ahl players lost due to this strike, where do they get their income now that nhl players there playing and taking their spots.

The players' union representatives and the owners going to meet tomorrow to see if they can still salvage the season. The soap opera continue......

Player's better hope they get it going. If they can't come to an agreement now, they won't get as good as a deal come september. I can pretty much say it's a safe bet owners will sit down in September with a 30 million cap instead of the 42 that was being offered.

[Mop]

Well dont get me wrong I think both are at fault for the entire season being cancelled, but that being said, I could care less about people that buy sports team and don't run it like a business... the clippers consitently are one of the best money making teams in sports - even though they consitently suck.

[Lyion]

Its a fringe sport in the US, and its hurting its market. The NBA and MLB are chipping away at their fan base.

I understand its huge in Canada, Zan, but Canada doesn't roll in the dough the US does. It's also huge in Michigan, Ohio, etc but again its more about the huge cash markets.. New York, LA, Dallas, etc. It was just starting to break from fringe to mainstream and this debacle will put it back 5 years.

[Phlegm]

Both sides are at fault here but as i see it, the spiralling of salaries is totally the owners' fault. If they are losing money left and right why in the fuck are they offering these players that kind of money. If the owners have some kind of self control, the situation wouldn't be so fucked up.

[Zanchief]

Come to a Canadian city during the playoffs and you will see what I mean.

But my point is, everyone is screaming that hockey is coming to an end. I'm telling you that will never happen.

Yes there are more teams/money getting brought in fromt he US but if tomorow every American team folded and said fuck Hockey we would still play here. We would make our own leagues that would be just as popular. That woudnt happen in the US.

[Phlegm]

Well, the meeting between the owners and players was today and their attempt to uncancel the season had failed. This is from espn.com


NEW YORK -- The NHL and the players' association still weren't able to come to an agreement Saturday that would un-cancel the hockey season, and NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly said it's too late to play any semblance of a season.

Daly told The Associated Press that there was no progress made in the 6½-hour meeting, and later told Canada's Sportsnet that the sides' focus will shift to getting a deal done and playing the 2005-06 season.

No further meetings are scheduled and the league will not comment on Saturday's talks. Representatives from the players' association were expected to meet with reporters later in the day.

Just three days after the season was called off because of the protracted lockout, the NHL and the players' association restarted talks at 9 a.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location in New York.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and players' association executive director Bob Goodenow were not at the meeting, two sources told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

However, Wayne Gretzky, the managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and Mario Lemieux, the player-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, joined the talks aimed at getting a deal done that could save the season, the sources said.

Gretzky and Lemieux were joined on the owners' side by Daly and outside counsel Bob Batterman, while the union was represented by NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin, director of business relations Mike Gartner, players' association president Trevor Linden, vice president Vincent Damphousse, and outside counsel John McCambridge.

The union denied online reports Friday night that an agreement had been reached on a $45 million salary cap.

On Wednesday, Bettman canceled the season, saying it was too late to play any semblance of a schedule. That made the NHL the first major North American sports league to lose a full season to a labor dispute.

In a statement released Friday night, the players' association said the NHL made the offer late Thursday night to get together. There hadn't been any official contact between the NHL and the players' association since Tuesday night -- when the sides traded what they said were final offers.

All proposals were rejected, and Bettman canceled the season at a news conference that was scheduled Monday.

"I don't think anything was premature. It was a necessity," New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello said.

Bettman said in a letter to Goodenow on Tuesday that the league's salary-cap proposal of $42.5 million was as far as he could go and that there was no time or flexibility for negotiation.

Goodenow sent a letter back, proposing a soft cap at $49 million that could be exceeded by as much as 10 percent by teams twice during the course of the six-year deal.

It appeared there was momentum toward reaching a deal and the season had a chance to be saved, because the sides were only $6.5 million apart on their cap numbers. But talking ceased after each side sent two letters to the other on Tuesday night.

Bettman said the NHL couldn't afford the union's final proposal and said if all 30 teams spent $49 million on player costs, then more money would be paid out to players than last season.

The commissioner said that teams lost more than $1.8 billion over 10 years, the last time a collective bargaining agreement was reached. The previous lockout cut the 1994-95 season down to 48 games per team.

NHL clubs claim to have lost $273 million in 2002-03 and $224 million last season.

Bettman said a deal would have to be in the drafting stages by the end of last weekend if there was going to be time to play a 28-game season and a standard 16-team postseason.