The National Hockey League (NHL) is facing its third lockout in 18 years with owners and players showing no desire to back off from demands on a new labor deal with just two days before to go before the current pact expires.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, unwilling to let the 2012-13 season start on Oct. 11 under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), said he has unanimous support from all 30 teams to lock out players if a deal cannot be reached before 12:01am on Sunday.
“We are not prepared to open another season until we have a new collective bargaining agreement,” Bettman told reporters during a news conference at a Manhattan hotel. “The league is not in a position, not willing to move forward with another season under the status quo.”
Bettman refused to term the NHL’s latest offer as a take-it-or-leave it proposal but did say it would be taken off the table if, or when, the current CBA expires.
The main sticking point in the dispute, which threatens a fourth work stoppage in 20 years, lies with the two sides at odds over how to divide US$3.3 billion in revenue.
The NHL, which enjoyed record-breaking revenues last season, initially wanted players to cut their share of hockey-related revenue to 43 percent from 57 percent but have amended that to a six-year deal that starts at 49 percent and drops to 47 percent.
Having had 24 hours to digest the latest offer, NHL Players’ Association head Donald Fehr briefed nearly 300 players on the offer before it was given the thumbs down.
“There have been no developments since yesterday,” Fehr told a news conference where he was flanked by several NHL players, including Sidney Crosby and Zdeno Chara. “The players very much want to reach an agreement provided that it is one which is fair and which is equitable and treats them appropriately.”
No further talks are scheduled although Bettman and Fehr said they are prepared to meet at anytime.
The players are believed to be willing to accept a smaller share of projected revenues as the league grows, with an offer that opens at 54.3 percent of revenues and dips to 52.7 percent.
The day marked a sharp increase in the rhetoric coming from both camps with the players and owners digging in while staking their position.
Players made it clear that they are united and in no mood to give up the same kind of concessions they did after a labor dispute wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.
“We have not ignored the owners,” Fehr said. “We have proposed that under these circumstances we could construct an agreement in which, as revenues grow, the players compensation would be protected, but it would grow significantly more slowly than revenues so that after a few years the league could grow out of any perceived difficulties that it had.”
Bettman defended the owners’ attempts for a bigger slice of the pie as necessary because the price of doing business has gone up since the last agreement was reached.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS