NHL’s Big Four to talk finances today

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This article was published 16/10/2012 (5117 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — The key negotiators in the NHL’s collective bargaining talks will look to start bridging the gap on economic issues when they resume negotiations.

A meeting between the league and union is scheduled for this morning where the sides will discuss “ideas for moving the process forward on the main issues,” according to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

Beyond that, there is no set agenda.

The session will feature the Big Four involved in talks — commissioner Gary Bettman and Daly for the NHL, and executive director Donald Fehr and special counsel Steve Fehr for the NHL Players’ Association.

The sides have maintained a frequent dialogue since the lockout was enacted on Sept. 15, but haven’t reported much progress. Meetings have largely centred on secondary issues such as drug testing and grievance procedures, and the league has been pushing for the NHLPA to deliver a new proposal on the system for dividing up revenues.

“We understand that they’ve been working on some concepts, some ideas,” Daly said last week after a bargaining session in New York. “Any movement is better than no movement at all. Hopefully we’ve moved it forward, but even if we move backwards it might be better than where we are now.

“That was our message to them.”

The union has maintained that the league could also make the next proposal.

“We’re always working on ideas to contribute to proposals, and Bill knows that because I’ve told him that on a regular basis,” Steve Fehr said last week. “We hope they’re doing the same thing. Nobody should stand on ceremony.”

Neither side has formally tabled an offer since Sept. 12, when they each put one on the table. Both of those expired when the lockout started.

The union put forward a five-year deal that would see the players’ share in revenue fall from roughly 54 per cent to 52 per cent during the contract. The league’s offer was over six years and would see the players start with 49 per cent and fall to 47 per cent.

The players received 57 per cent in the final years of the last CBA.

The talks are set to resume just days before the next batch of regular-season games is expected to be wiped out by the lockout. The NHL has already cancelled 82 games through Oct. 24 and will likely take more off the schedule by the end of the week.

The league has turned to market research firm Luntz Global to conduct a focus group about fans’ perceptions. On Monday, Deadspin revealed details from a session conducted last week in Washington — which included a question about which side the respondent favoured in the dispute — and company founder Frank Luntz later released a statement about the work he’s done for the NHL.

“The research was no different from what I and others in my field have done for sports teams, sports leagues and players’ unions for many, many years,” said Luntz, a noted Republican Party strategist.

 

— The Associated Press