Commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and deputy commissioner Bill Daly reportedly represented the NHL at a meeting ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled formal talks, which were subsequently called off. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)
(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — Formal NHL collective bargaining talks were canceled Wednesday in Toronto, with both sides indicating it was done primarily to give officials from the league and NHL Players Association time to regroup.
The decision was made after NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly met with NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr and his brother, Steve, the NHLPA’s second-in-command.
Negotiations will resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the union’s offices in Toronto.
“This is one of the normal things that happen in bargaining,” Fehr said, adding that he didn’t want to characterize where negotiations are at or where they are headed Thursday.
Fehr cautioned against reading too much into the decision to cancel the formal session. He said Wednesday’s meeting with the four top executives was “businesslike” and dealt with core economic issues.
“I think more than anything else it was to review where we are in the process, where we’ve come from, where we are with the various proposals and to determine how to move the process forward in the best way possible — hoping and understanding that both sides are committed to using the time left to making a deal as quickly as possible,” Daly said.
Fehr said the two sides will meet all of next week in New York.
This is considerable urgency on both sides because the current CBA expires Sept. 15. Bettman has announced players will be locked out if there is no new deal. The last time players were locked out, the 2004-05 season was lost.
Daly said the two sides would discuss some key issues Thursday.
“I think system-related proposals and economical proposals are the most critical issues and probably the issues where we have the widest divergence of views currently,” Daly said. “I’m all in favor of spending as much time as possible trying to bridge those gaps.”
There is a significant gap between the two sides’ proposals.
The union put forth an offer last week that includes accepting a smaller percentage of revenues for players over the next three seasons in exchange for an expanded revenue-sharing program to help struggling teams. The NHLPA estimated that players would be giving up $465 million in salaries if the league continued on its pace of 7% growth each season.
The owners have asked for players to reduce their share of the revenue from 57% to 46%. Based on how the new system would work, players say the 46% would actually be 43%.
With league revenues topping $3 billion annually, each percentage point is worth more than $30 million. For example, if the players’ share dropped from 57% to 55%, it would mean more than $60 million of lost wages. That would be an average loss of about $85,000 a player. The minimum NHL salary is $525,000 and the average salary tops $2 million.
Contributing: Kevin Allen
