BPBlueSox
02-04-2005, 05:38 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1984268
ESPN.com news services
NHL labor talks ended Friday after a four-hour meeting in New York, leaving the hockey season on the brink of being canceled.
"The parties agreed to stay in touch, but there is no progress to report," players' association executive director Bob Goodenow told reporters in New York before leaving, according to Canada's TSN. "That's the statement, that's the reality."
The sides met for the third straight day but made no progress on the major stumbling block -- a salary cap. The NHL has insisted on a link between league revenues and player costs, and the players' association has steadfastly refused that as a solution to end the season-long lockout.
"The parties met again today for approximately four hours and the discussions broke off with no progress to report," NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said in a statement.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Goodenow rejoined the discussions Thursday and were at the table for Friday's session.
Goodenow left the meeting and said he was returning to Toronto.
The NHL indicated that progress was essential at these talks if there was to be hockey this season.
"We had extensive and constructive talks over the past two days," NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly said in a statement. "While there are no future meetings scheduled, we have agreed to keep the lines of communication open. Despite several media reports to the contrary, we have no intention of making any futher announcement related to collective bargaining or the status of the season at this time."
On Wednesday, the players' association quickly rejected the league's proposal because it included a salary cap. That session was the fifth in a two-week span that Bettman and Goodenow didn't attend. But right after that meeting, the union invited the league back to the table and wanted the two leaders there.
Bettman and Goodenow were needed in the room before any deal could possibly be reached. No major league in North America has lost an entire season to a labor dispute.
Saskin and John McCambridge also took part in the negotiations on the union side, while Daly and attorney Bob Batterman represented the league. Those four were the only participants in Wednesday's session.
The 4½-month lockout reached its 142nd day Friday and has wiped out 775 regular-season games and the All-Star Game. The remainder of the 1,230-game schedule could be called off within days.
The NHL proposed a six-year deal Wednesday that contained a cap that would force teams to spend at least $32 million on player costs but no more than $42 million, including benefits. The union needed only a few hours to turn it down.
There were other components to the offer, such as a profit-sharing plan, reduced age for unrestricted free agency, a raise of the minimum salary and the continued conclusion of guaranteed contracts, but the issue has always been about a salary cap.
Bettman has said that teams lost a total of more than $1.8 billion over 10 years and management will not agree to a deal without a defined relationship between revenue and salaries.
Last season's average salary was $1.8 million, and the NHL wants to push that back with a salary cap. The latest offer would give players between 53 and 55 percent of league revenues.
An economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players got 75 percent of revenues, but the union has challenged many of the league's findings.
The NHL has been operating under the same collective bargaining agreement since 1995, when the last lockout went 103 days before a 48-game season was played.
The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1919, when a flu epidemic wiped out the final series between Montreal and Seattle.
ESPN.com news services
NHL labor talks ended Friday after a four-hour meeting in New York, leaving the hockey season on the brink of being canceled.
"The parties agreed to stay in touch, but there is no progress to report," players' association executive director Bob Goodenow told reporters in New York before leaving, according to Canada's TSN. "That's the statement, that's the reality."
The sides met for the third straight day but made no progress on the major stumbling block -- a salary cap. The NHL has insisted on a link between league revenues and player costs, and the players' association has steadfastly refused that as a solution to end the season-long lockout.
"The parties met again today for approximately four hours and the discussions broke off with no progress to report," NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said in a statement.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Goodenow rejoined the discussions Thursday and were at the table for Friday's session.
Goodenow left the meeting and said he was returning to Toronto.
The NHL indicated that progress was essential at these talks if there was to be hockey this season.
"We had extensive and constructive talks over the past two days," NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly said in a statement. "While there are no future meetings scheduled, we have agreed to keep the lines of communication open. Despite several media reports to the contrary, we have no intention of making any futher announcement related to collective bargaining or the status of the season at this time."
On Wednesday, the players' association quickly rejected the league's proposal because it included a salary cap. That session was the fifth in a two-week span that Bettman and Goodenow didn't attend. But right after that meeting, the union invited the league back to the table and wanted the two leaders there.
Bettman and Goodenow were needed in the room before any deal could possibly be reached. No major league in North America has lost an entire season to a labor dispute.
Saskin and John McCambridge also took part in the negotiations on the union side, while Daly and attorney Bob Batterman represented the league. Those four were the only participants in Wednesday's session.
The 4½-month lockout reached its 142nd day Friday and has wiped out 775 regular-season games and the All-Star Game. The remainder of the 1,230-game schedule could be called off within days.
The NHL proposed a six-year deal Wednesday that contained a cap that would force teams to spend at least $32 million on player costs but no more than $42 million, including benefits. The union needed only a few hours to turn it down.
There were other components to the offer, such as a profit-sharing plan, reduced age for unrestricted free agency, a raise of the minimum salary and the continued conclusion of guaranteed contracts, but the issue has always been about a salary cap.
Bettman has said that teams lost a total of more than $1.8 billion over 10 years and management will not agree to a deal without a defined relationship between revenue and salaries.
Last season's average salary was $1.8 million, and the NHL wants to push that back with a salary cap. The latest offer would give players between 53 and 55 percent of league revenues.
An economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players got 75 percent of revenues, but the union has challenged many of the league's findings.
The NHL has been operating under the same collective bargaining agreement since 1995, when the last lockout went 103 days before a 48-game season was played.
The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1919, when a flu epidemic wiped out the final series between Montreal and Seattle.