The Saga of the NHL Lockout

With two weeks left till the universally proclaimed “Doomsday” on 12-21-12, it has become increasing evident that my prediction in October will be correct. There will not be any NHL hockey played before the end of the world. For a brief moment this week it appeared my prophecy could be in peril, but as I predicted on the most recent Pondcast, the NHL owners and players cannot seem to play nice.

Since I last wrote about the lockout we have seen multiple breaks in negotiations because the NHL and NHLPA could not stand to be in the same room as each other.  Federal mediation has failed. Decertification rumors are starting to boil.

This week, owners and players have met without key negotiators, Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr, to see if they can find a common ground. Just has optimism begun to spread of a potential season, the happiness was squashed by the league. No deal, just like that we are back at ground zero. From the beginning of the lockout I have felt the NHL was responsible for this mess and did not have the best interest of the players and fans at heart. Now, I just don’t know. If the reasoning behind this most recent bargaining snafu is true, I may have a change of heart. Both perspectives seem to have merit.   

The League and Gary Bettman

The 50/50 split of hockey revenue was a big hurdle that NHL and NHLPA were eventually able to agree upon. However the players wanted compensation for their loss of revenue. After a lot of give and take the league agreed to offer $300 million in compensation to the players. Clearly this is a good sign that the NHL is not against its players and willing to give some wiggle room to their goals.  

Given the league caved to one of the player’s demands, it seems only fitting that the players give up a little in return. In addition to upping their compensation offer, the NHL had 3 CBA contributions they were not willing to negotiate. They want a 10 year CBA with the option to opt out after 8 years, a limitation on players contracts to a five year maximum, seven if it’s a team’s own player, plus they wanted to eliminate buy-outs and escrows (I honestly have no idea what this means, if you a business or finance person please feel free to comment to share some light) to keep player’s from being paid outside the system.

Instead of heeding the leagues warning that the 3 clauses listed above were non-negotiable, the players made tweaks and proposed their own versions. The NHLPA want an eight year CBA, an eight year limit on contracts with payment stipulations, and they wanted to throw in a pension plan.

Understandably so the owners were not amused and took their offer completely off the table.  After giving into player demands, the NHLPA felt they could take even more from the league. The players undoubtedly knew how the NHL felt about these positions from meetings this week and still decided to poke the bear. I think the bear was completely right in taking his honey pot and going home.

The NHLPA

It appears the NHLPA is dead set on ensuring players contracts can have the biggest maximum possible. This is understandable considering hockey is the roughest professional sport in the United States, perhaps the world. However, these 10 year contracts that have most recently been awarded to star players (Look up Parise comma Zach) are a bit ridiculous. Plus it allows the wealthy teams to lock up incredible players for multiple years. The difference between a five and eight year contract certainly seems drastic, but is it really? No one has said that players will receive less money. In fact players will most likely have the opportunity to make a greater yearly sum with smaller contracts.

As for the length of the CBA, personally, I am all for a ten year deal. Let’s avoid having these over-dramatic NHL lockouts for as long as possible. However, the players do not want to be saddled with only receiving 50% of the revenue for ten years.

Really NHLPA? Really? Are you aware that hockey revenue was on a steady rise before this debacle? Do you realize that if a season does get on the way people are going to flock to arenas because, yes, people actually do miss hockey? To be arguing over two years when the NHL already gave into demands is COMPLETELY IDIOTIC AND YOU SHOULD ALL BE KICK IN THE SCROTUM!

There is one thing I will give the players credit for during this most recent negotiation. The player’s realized once their proposal was met with scorn that they needed to act fast before talks completely disintegrated. To try and salvage what progress already made, they tried to bring back Fehr to the bargaining table. After all, their hockey players, not lawyers or accountants. The owners would not allow this. The NHL realizes they can get away with a lot more with just players in the room. I am completely disgusted that the league would not let the players seek council so they could take what progress they had made and work out an agreement.  

Who’s to Blame?

That is a great question. A question I’m not sure I have an answer too. From this week, I do feel the league made an honest effort to comply with what the players desired. I think the players insulted the owners with their proposal and the NHL had every right to walk away. The owners should be ashamed of trying to take advantage of the players who are not qualified to finalize a ten year CBA. In the end I really only know one thing. I will not be watching any NHL hockey before the end of the world.