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On Wednesday, I
wrote a blog post on the specifics of the NHLPA proposal. My takeaway from it all was that the key points being leaked to the media from the player's side were meant to grab an early win in the PR department, and not much else. Considering the NHL's swift rejection of the package offered up, I'm fairly confident in assuming the above was a pretty accurate assessment.
Neither side is to blame more than the other in this instance, even if the majority of hockey fans have already sided with the PA against the various owners around the National Hockey League. Siding with big business has never been a desirable stance in North America, and Donald Fehr knows just as much. His attack is designed to blitzkrieg the NHL through the media and drive a wedge between owners in big and small markets. Divide, conquer. It's unknown how effective the strategy has been right now -- perhaps we'll see dividends paid in the future.
Gary Bettman, et al. spoke on the NHLPA's proposal just twenty-four hours after it's release, and the response was overwhelmingly negative. Some in the media were surprised; again, I'm not exactly sure why. The deal was no better than the initial laugher offered up by the owners. The only difference? The PA dressed it up in a way that highlighted the compromise, and small-printed the grab-backs that may financially handcuff the owners in the future.
Said Bettman on Wednesday (h/t
ESPN):
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the two sides are “still apart, far apart,” and “not on the same page,” in making his first public comments since having a chance to read through the NHLPA’s offer. Adding that he was “a little disappointed” that the union has yet to present its full proposal, Bettman said the league isn’t even at the point of making a counteroffer.
“I think there are still a number of issues where we’re looking at the world differently,” Bettman said, after the two sides met for about an hour at the NHLPA headquarters in Toronto. “So there’s still a wide gap between us, and not much time to go.”
The NHLPA couldn't have been thrilled with the barbs hurled in their direction. Next move? Leak more of the same to the public, and keep the pressure on the NHL.
On Thursday morning, the NHLPA posted a column to the official web site, again highlighting the key elements of the proposal. Good on the NHLPA to stay in active communication with hockey fans, but again, I find a lot of what they're saying disingenous and vague right now.
Below, the posting (h/t
NHLPA:
On Tuesday, the NHLPA submitted an alternative proposal to the owners that it believes is fair to both the players and the owners, and also to the fans, particularly in hockey markets that are having difficulties. We believe it will allow the game to grow and will take us beyond the labour issues that have plagued hockey for the last 20 years.
Key aspects of the proposal that were made public include:
* Players compensation would grow at fixed rates which would result in player compensation being reduced by potentially more than $800 million over the next three seasons (depending on revenue growth)
* A significantly expanded and simplified revenue sharing system specifically designed to help clubs in need of assistance
* Increased flexibility for teams; will help GMs to put their teams together including awarding extra draft picks for teams in difficulty, allowing teams to trade dollars and players and in limited cases, allow for small amount of teams to go over or under the salary cap
Under the NHLPA proposal, at the end of three years, the players would have an option for a fourth which would ‘snap-back’ to the current agreement.
In essence, the players are proposing to partner with the financially stronger NHL owners to bring stability to the industry and assist those clubs that are less financially stable. In summary, the alternative proposal seeks to fix the problems that exist, instead of focusing on problems that don’t.
Much of this was already known. The NHLPA is going to make concessions early in the proposed CBA(see points one and paragraph six), but the verbiage is pretty interesting. Note that in the first bullet point, the NHLPA offers up the positive financial gains of the NHL -- $800M in 3Y time -- without any mention of the fourth snap-back year, which would essentially return the NHL to the status quo.
You don't need to understand the art of negotiations or contract legalese to know the owners can't be thrilled with this fourth-year proposed by the NHLPA; it simply handcuffs the owners in the most important growth year by paying out extreme quantities to the players, returning the health of the league to the status quo in '12 that's essentially led to the stalemate between both camps right now.
The other two points? They appear to be pretty big commitments on the player end, but I can't stress enough that there's more to these concessions than what meets the eye. The players are essentially leaning on a concession or compromise that they know the owners will fight violently over; big owners will severely question the revenue strategy implementation to their league, and small-market owners will welcome it with open arms. Fehr's trying to drive the two sides apart here. It's a brilliant negotiation tactic -- absolutely. Is it good faith bargaining, though? I'm not so sure.
What didn't the NHLPA do? It failed to address the most important financial hurdle in the entire negotiation process. Ownership's plan would see the players generate roughly $6.79B, assuming fixed growth rates. The player's plan would generate $8.53B.
In short? The two sides are about $1.74B apart. And none of this was addressed. Instead of the chess-game going on between the two sides and the media picking up arbitrary talking points and waxing poetic about what party should make which concession, the focus should be squarely here. How do the two sides close the gap? Right now, neither have made a concerted effort.
The idea here isn't to berate the NHLPA, but rather show why the two sides are so far apart. Neither party is budging right now -- one's just honest about their greed(the owners), the other is simply cloaking and disguising their avarice through media mouthpieces.
As for now, Donald Fehr's headed up to the player meetings in Chicago and Kelowna. The two sides will reconvene next Wednesday.
Back with more as it comes.
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