This post isn't strictly about Detroit Red Wings hockey because right now there isn't any NHL hockey to watch. Rather it is about the current lockout, the positions of the two sides and the prospects for a deal. Now, I’m one of the biggest hockey fans around, if the Wings don’t win the Cup every year I sulk all summer long but this is getting ridicules. This is the NHL’s third labor disruption since 1995 and it is starting to look like it might be the second complete season lost since 2005. Why are we going through this again? To answer that question we need to go over a little history between the two sides. In 2005 the owners said that the deal they were pressing for, would guarantee labor peace for years, unfortunately we did know they only meant seven years. The owners stood by their guns in 2004-5 locking the players out for the entire season to get a salary cap installed, the players fought the cap tooth and nail then after the season had been cancelled rolled over and accepted a deal that was the same as the one the owners had originally offered and would have saved the season. It was universally thought the NHLPA was broken and people wondered if it would ever be the same. Bob Goodenow the Executive Director of the union was forced out but they continued to have problems when in 2007 then Director Ted Saskin was fired after accessing player email accounts since 2005. Lawyer Paul Kelly replaced Saskin but only lasted until 2009 before being fired. One month later interim director Ian Penny resigned and in December 2010 interim director Mike Ouellet resigned in favor of Donald Fehr. Fehr, who led the 232 day Major League Baseball Players Association strike that led to the cancellation of the World Series, was viewed as a strong leader that would attempt to win back some of the concessions the players made in 2005. In fact six of the eight contract negotiations he has been involved in have resulted in labor stoppages. Fehr was true to his press clippings and failed to get a new collective bargaining agreement done before the deadline, leading to the current lockout. There has been absolutely no progress thus far in the negotiations and both parties state that they remain far apart on the key issues.
An examination of the key issues would be helpful at this point. The three main issues in this negotiations are the NHL/NHLPA split of "hockey related revenue", the length of player contracts and the length of service time to become an unrestricted free agent.
Before we look at the main issue we need to understand exactly what is hockey related revenue. If you want the complete definition, read the CBA, and let me know if you can get through it all. In the most general terms HRR is money from regular season and playoff gate receipts; preseason and special games (such as international exhibitions); national and international digital broadcasts; the NHL Network; all local cable, over-the-air, pay-per-view and satellite TV broadcasts; local radio; club Internet sites; all club publications, merchandise and novelty items sold in and out of arenas; concessions; luxury boxes, suites and premium seats; fixed and temporary signage and arena sponsorship rink board advertising; parking in club operated facilities; and some other stuff. The newly expired CBA excludes the following items from HRR: money teams make from waiver claims on players; money the NHL makes from moving teams or granting expansion franchises; revenues that teams receive from operating other clubs, such as AHL affiliates; fines collected from players and teams; any money teams make through financial transactions, such as loans, interest income or investments; and the sale or leasing of real estate. Last year this amount was $3.3 billion, up from $1.2 billion in 2005. The owners want the players to agree to a deal that would split the hockey related revenue (HRR) with 57% going to the owners and 43% to the players. In the expired deal the shares were the opposite, players had 57% of HRR and the owners 43%.
The second issue is the length of player contracts and their monetary structure . The owners asked for contracts to be no longer then five years and they wished to void all years and money owed over the five year mark for every current contract for every active player in the NHL. The owners also wanted to end signing bonuses and set a uniform salary for every year of a contract, ending the practice of "front loading" as well as extending the entry level contract term from three years to five.
The third prong of the negotiations are the extension of the qualifications for unrestricted free agency from the current level of seven years of service to ten years. This would mean that a player would have to play ten years before becoming a unrestricted free agent.
All these issues on top of the salary cap and the 24% salary roll back from the 2005 CBA made the players dig in their heels in an attempt to regain, some of the concessions or at least some face. The initial offer from the owners was rejected by the union and was countered with a proposal that would give 55% to the players and 45% to the owners, but the owners said no before the paper had even hit the conference table. Bettman offered a limited time offer of a 50-50 split of HRR but the NHLPA did not agree to or refuse the offer responded with three offers none of which came close to the 50-50 offer and the deal was taken off the table. The owners have taken the issue of making all current contracts five years and rolling back the money, off the table. They still want to have all future contracts be five years but they knew the players would never agree to losing money already guaranteed. The two sides are were still very far apart as of Thanksgiving and both sides agreed to bring in an outside mediators in an effort to end the lockout or at least make significant progress. FMCS (Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service) were brought in and both sides met with the mediators for two days. After the second set of meetings the spokesman for FMCS stated they would not be any more meeting as no significant progress was made. FMCS would stay in contact with both sides and if any movement was made there could be more meetings but as of 12/2/12 there was no movement. The two sides announced that they would meet again starting Tuesday 12/4/12 and this time it would be a delegation of six owners and 12 players without either Bettman or Fehr. According to reports the negotiations went well but neither side would make any statements regarding the progress made. The talks continued on Wednesday and went until 1:00 AM with both sides agreeing to meet again Thursday.
What would the loss of another season mean to the NHL? In 2005 the NHL lost ESPN as a television home and were lucky to get a deal with the Outdoor Life Network. The what? this was a network that has changed it's name twice since 2005. It is now a stable home as the NBC Sports Network but it is not on nearly as many cable and satellite systems as ESPN. After the 2005 lockout the NHL lost a lot of cache as a major sports league and another lost season could quite possibly finish it. Quite a large segment of the American sports viewers already think of hockey as a second tier sport, on par with MLS or MLL but a larger number of people will leave the sport without looking back, if the whole season is scrapped. When was the last time you heard a segment on ESPN TV or Radio about the NHL? Even before the lockout, ESPN had made the decision that the large majority of their audience don't care about the NHL and will even show highlights of D-League basketball before the NHL. This will only get worse if this season is lost and the hockey loving people of the world may find themselves without any national coverage of the NHL.
In short the two sides need to get off their soap boxes, stop thinking about their wallets and get a deal done before the whole season is gone. I understand that this is a business and both sides are watching out for their future but they are forgetting one important piece of the puzzle; the fans. The fans are the ones spending all the money the owner and players are fighting over and it would be nice if somebody thought about them once in a while. I fear that if this season is lost the NHL will never recover and it will disappear from the sports landscape.
No comments:
Post a Comment