NHL OFFERS 50/50 SPLIT ON HRR IN PROPOSAL FOR NHLPA

Rented Mule

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=407490

The NHL put a new offer on the bargaining table for the NHL Players' Association on Tuesday morning, which includes a 50/50 split of hockey-related revenue across the board and contingent on an 82-game season beginning Nov. 2.

"We hope we've given our best shot," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

Bettman added that the offer calls for no salary rollback and the revised schedule - if implemented - would see one week of training camp and every team playing an extra regular season game every five weeks.

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said the offer - which is at least six years in length - is an "excellent start" and he would go over it with his membership in a 5pm et conference call.



I really didn't see this one coming. Apparently, the owners are on the same page for a change. The NHLPA should take this and run with it. The only thing that I would change (from what I can see in the initial report) would be the length of the CBA. Six years is far too short a time for a CBA. This needs to be over a decade so that we aren't seeing a lockout so frequently.

MrJoeSoap

Great news, eagerly awaiting a proper response from the NHLPA now. Great to see the maximum contract length proposed is for 5 years, none of these nonsensical Kovalchuk-type deals.

1. Term:

- Six-year Agreement with mutual option for a seventh year.

2. HRR Accounting:

- Current HRR Accounting subject to mutual clarification of existing interpretations and settlements.

3. Applicable Players' Share:

- For each of the six (6) years of the CBA (and any additional one-year option) the Players' Share shall be Fifty (50) percent of Actual HRR.

4. Payroll Range:

- Payroll Range will be computed using existing methodology. For the 2012/13 season, the Payroll Range will be computed assuming HRR will remain flat year-over-year (2011/12 to 2012/13) at $3.303 Billion (assuming Preliminary Benefits of $95 Million).

- 2012/13 Payroll Range: Lower Limit = $43.9 Million, Midpoint = $51.9 Million, Upper Limit = $59.9 Million

- Appropriate "Transition Rules" to allow Clubs to exceed Upper Limit for the 2012/13 season only (but in no event will Club's Averaged Club Salary be permitted to exceed the pre-CBA Upper Limit of $70.2 Million).

5. Cap Accounting:

- Payroll Lower Limit must be satisfied without performance bonuses.

- All years of existing SPCs with terms in excess of five (5) years will be accounted for and charged against a team's Cap (at full AAV) regardless of whether or where the Player is playing. In the event any such contract is traded during its term, the related Cap charge will travel with the Player, but
only for the year(s) in which the Player remains active and is being paid under his NHL SPC. If, at some subsequent point in time the Player retires or ceases to play and/or receive pay under his NHL SPC, the Cap charge will automatically revert (at full AAV) to the Club that initially entered into the
contract for the balance of its term.

- Money paid to Players on NHL SPCs (one-ways and two-ways) in another professional league will not be counted against the Players' Share, but all dollars paid in excess of $105,000 will be counted against the NHL Club's Averaged Club Salary for the period during which such Player is being paid under his SPC while playing in another professional league.

- In the context of Player Trades, participating Clubs will be permitted to allocate Cap charges and related salary payment obligations between them, subject to specified parameters. Specifically, Clubs may agree to retain, for each of the remaining years of the Player's SPC, no more than the lesser of: (i) $3 million of a particular SPC's Cap charge or (ii) 50 percent of the SPC's AAV ("Retained Salary Transaction"). In any Retained Salary Transaction, salary obligations as between Clubs would be allocated on the same percentage basis as Cap charges are being allocated. So, for instance, if an assigning Club agrees to retain 30% of an SPC's Cap charge over the balance of its term, it will also retain an obligation to reimburse the acquiring Club 30% of the Player's contractual compensation in each of the remaining years of the contract. A Club may not have more than two (2) contracts as to which Cap charges have been allocated between Clubs in a Player Trade, and no more than $5 million in allocated Cap charges in the aggregate in any one season.

6. System Changes:

- Entry Level System commitment will be limited to two (2) years (covering two full seasons) for all Players who sign their first SPC between the ages of 18 and 24 (i.e., where the first year of the SPC only covers a partial season, SPC must be for three (3) years).

- Maintenance of existing Salary Arbitration System subject to: (i) total mutuality of rights with regard to election as between Player and Club, and (ii) eligibility for election moved to five years of professional experience (from the current four years).

- Group 3 UFA eligibility for Players who are 28 or who have eight (8) Accrued Seasons (continues to allow for early UFA eligibility -- age 26).

- Maximum contract length of five (5) years.

- Limit on year-to-year salary variability on multi-year SPCs -- i.e., maximum increase or decrease in total compensation (salary and bonuses) year-over-year limited to 5% of the value of the first year of the contract. (For example, if a Player earns $10 million in total compensation in Year 1 of his SPC, his compensation (salary and bonuses) cannot increase or decrease by more than $500,000 in any subsequent year of his SPC.)

- Re-Entry waivers will be eliminated, consistent with the Cap Accounting proposal relating to the treatment of Players on NHL SPCs playing in another professional league.

- NHL Clubs who draft European Players obtain four (4) years of exclusive negotiating rights following selection in the Draft. If the four-year period expires, Player will be eligible to enter the League as a Free Agent and will not be subject to re-entering the Draft.

7. Revenue Sharing:

- NHL commits to Revenue Sharing Pool of $200 million for 2012/13 season (based on assumption of $3.303 Billion in actual HRR). Amount will be adjusted upward or downward in proportion to Actual HRR results for 2012/13. Revenue Sharing Pools in future years will be calculated proportionately.

- At least one-half of the total Revenue Sharing Pool (50%) will be raised from the Top 10 Revenue Grossing Clubs in a manner to be determined by the NHL.

- The distribution of the Revenue Sharing Pool will be determined on an annual basis by a Revenue Sharing Committee on which the NHLPA will have representation and input.

- For each of the first two years of the CBA, no Club will receive less in total Revenue Sharing than it received in 2011/12.

- Current "Disqualification" criteria in CBA (for Clubs in Top Half of League revenues and Clubs in large media markets) will be removed

- Existing performance and "reduction" standards and provisions relating to "non-performers" (i.e., CBA 49.3(d)(i) and 49.3 (d)(ii)) will be eliminated and will be adjusted as per the NHL's 7/31 Proposal.

8. Supplemental and Commissioner Discipline:

- Introduction of additional procedural safeguards, including ultimate appeal right to a "neutral" third-party arbitrator with a "clearly erroneous" standard of review.

9. No "Rollback":

- The NHL is not proposing that current SPCs be reduced, re-written or rolled back. Instead, the NHL's proposal retains all current Players' SPCs at their current face value for the duration of their terms, subject to the operation of the escrow mechanism in the same manner as it worked under the expired CBA.

10. Players' Share "Make Whole" Provision:

- The League proposes to make Players "whole" for the absolute reduction in Players' Share dollars (when compared to 2011/12) that is attributable to the economic terms of the new CBA (the "Share Reduction"). Using an assumed year-over-year growth rate of 5% for League-wide revenues, the new CBA could result in shortfalls from the current level of Players' Share dollars ($1.883 Billion in 2011/12) of up to $149 million in Year 1 and up to $62 million in Year 2, for which Players will be "made whole." (By Year 3 of the new CBA, Players' Share dollars should exceed the current level ($1.883 Billion for 2011/12) and no "make whole" will be required.) Any such "shortfalls" in Years 1 and 2 of the new CBA will be computed as a percentage reduction off of the Player's stated contractual compensation, and will be repaid to the Player as a Deferred Compensation benefit spread over the remaining future years of the Player's SPC (or if he has no remaining years, in the year following the expiration of his SPC). Player reimbursement for the Share Reduction will be accrued and paid for by the League, and will be chargeable against Players' Share amounts in future years as Preliminary Benefits. The objective would be to honor all existing SPCs by restoring their "value" on the basis of the now existing level of Players' Share dollars.

COYW

I am very confident that we will be watching the NHL again come Nov 2nd. Only a mad-man would turn down that deal. I have no issue with the length of that CBA. Six years is acceptable when you review the rest of the offer.

Wompa1

Cool! I just got re-imbursed on tickets to a game I wanted to go to but got cancelled. I guess I can just shoot again for November. That is if the team actually stays. I'm in Phoenix, apparently the new owner doesn't have the cash yet..

MrJoeSoap

COYW wrote: »

I am very confident that we will be watching the NHL again come Nov 2nd. Only a mad-man would turn down that deal. I have no issue with the length of that CBA. Six years is acceptable when you review the rest of the offer.

Seems like a mad-man (or a group of mad-men) have had their say and turned it down. The NHLPA made three counter-proposals which, according to Bettman, didn't come close to the 50-50 offer. So a huge step backwards and no obvious sign of a breakthrough on the horizon.

Bad news.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=407649

COYW

Unbelievable! I just can't see hockey this season with that kind of attitude from the NHLPA. I was surprised that they didn't go for that offer or use it to broker a sensible resolution, at least.

Fiery mutant

The NHLPA are, or whoever is heading their negotiating teams, are way out of touch. The terms on that offer are as good as they are going to get I think, and if I was the NHL, I would stay away from the negotiating table for a while just to spite them*.



* Possible untrue statement, just so frustrated as it looks to me that it is the NHL that is doing all the legwork and making all the concessions, while the players are behaving like spoilt brats. Fehr needs a good kick in the hole.

MrJoeSoap

* Contains strong language *

Rented Mule

Fiery mutant wrote: »

The NHLPA are, or whoever is heading their negotiating teams, are way out of touch. The terms on that offer are as good as they are going to get I think, and if I was the NHL, I would stay away from the negotiating table for a while just to spite them*.



* Possible untrue statement, just so frustrated as it looks to me that it is the NHL that is doing all the legwork and making all the concessions, while the players are behaving like spoilt brats. Fehr needs a good kick in the hole.

Your 'possible untrue statement' probably isn't too far off. The players have to understand that this is not a 'strike'. This is a lockout. The owners are going to get what they want, and see this through to the end.

The lower-mid level players will be the ones who eventually drag the NHLPA back to the bargaining table and settle this dispute. The same thing happened in 2004. The players could have got the same CBA in November, and instead the lost the entire season.

Rented Mule

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=408130

NHL PULLS LATEST OFFER OFF THE TABLE AS DEADLINE PASSES

The National Hockey League has withdrawn its latest CBA proposal to the NHL Players' Association after a deadline to play a full 82-game season passed Thursday evening with no new discussions between the two sides.

An announcement to cancel games for the rest of November is expected as early as Friday.

Cancelling major events such as the Winter Classic and the All-Star game could be the league's next move. The league cancelled regular season games from Oct. 25 throught Nov. 1 last week, wiping out 135 games in total.

There were no talks held between both sides on Thursday and none have been held since last week's NHL proposal and counter-proposals from the NHLPA.

cena

They better sort it out. Heading to new york in 3 weeks time.

MrJoeSoap

cena wrote: »

They better sort it out. Heading to new york in 3 weeks time.

Sorry to disappoint you but it won't be sorted by then...

MrJoeSoap

cena wrote: »

They better sort it out. Heading to new york in 3 weeks time.

Sorry to disappoint you but it won't be sorted by then...

cena

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Sorry to disappoint you but it won't be sorted by then...

You have broke my heart. One thing i'm happy with is I didn't pay for game centre

COYW

cena wrote: »

They better sort it out. Heading to new york in 3 weeks time.

Did you get a refund for your tickets yet? I am not over til April next year myself, so I hope it is well sorted by then.

cena

COYW wrote: »

Did you get a refund for your tickets yet? I am not over til April next year myself, so I hope it is well sorted by then.

I didn't get any tickets for any game. cousin over would of got them if we where going to a game