NHL Armageddon has arrived - Divided the NHL may indeed be conquered
He was trying to put as positive a spin on the negotiations as possible, but in the end, National Hockey League vice president Bill Daly finally had to admit it. After two days of talking to his counterparts with the NHL players' association, which he described as a "much more fulsome discussion of all the elements of the system," he ultimately got to the point. "The bottom line," said Daly, "is we continue to have a divide on the philosophical issue." This column was written by Eric Duhatschek and appeared in The Globe and Mail
In effect, there was no need to go any further. Daly promised to keep the "lines of communication open," in the hopes that there would be "further discussion," and concluded by saying, "the window of time we have for playing hockey this season is very short."
But we knew that already.
The dynamic changed on the second day of meetings between players and owners, in part because Harley Hotchkiss, the NHL's chairman of the board, wasn't present for the dialogue. Hotchkiss flew to Calgary Wednesday night so he could attend Thursday afternoon's funeral (and act as a pallbearer) for Bud McCaig, his good friend and partner in the Flames' organization.
Hotchkiss was asked to attend the first day of meetings by NHLPA president Trevor Linden, in the hopes that the two — a couple of plain-talking Westerners - could find some common ground upon which to base further negotiations.
The two succeeded in getting a lively discussion started, but once both men had said their peace, at some point, they had to take the next step, so the process could move from the theoretical to the practical. Negotiations usually begin when one party says to the other, 'if I give you this, will you give me that?'
Sadly, things never got to that stage. As soon as the NHL began to talk about an economic system that tied player salaries to revenues, the NHLPA instinctively balked — and the two sides were right back to square one. Afterwards, they were both good at avoiding the acrimony or colorful language that characterized previous failed negotiations. Instead, what emerged was a collective sense of resignation. Any small flicker of hope - that one or the other might budge off its philosophical starting point - was dashed in a meaningful and potentially fatal way.
Logically, the NHL will make one last attempt to engage the NHLPA in a "cost certainty" discussion between now and the end of the month and if that initiative fails, then the season will be cancelled.
If history is any indication, that effort will have to come sometime next week. Ten years ago, during the last lockout, the two sides seemed to be hopelessly bogged down in the details as well. That year, the NHL issued a news release on Jan. 7, 1995, saying that the 1994-95 season would be cancelled on Jan. 10 at noon Eastern time if a new CBA was not reached with the players' association. That was the bleakest moment of the last dispute, when it looked as if there was no hope whatsoever of salvaging the year.
Within 72 hours, working against a feverish deadline, the two sides hammered out an agreement and 10 days later — on Jan. 20, 1995 — they dropped the puck on an abbreviated 48-game season.
About the only remaining hope now is that one side or the other (but preferably both) acknowledge the destructiveness of the path they're heading down. Remember, Linden went out of his way to include Hotchkiss in the process, presumably because he knows that in his other businesses, he is known as a dealmaker. An important part of the process of making a deal — and forging a partnership — is to understand and acknowledge the other side's problems and issues, something that really hasn't happened yet.
As yet, there hasn't been any irreparable damage done to the NHL. No major sponsors have bailed out on the league. The first game in the new television contract with NBC was supposed to air only a couple of weeks ago. South of the 49th parallel, this is generally the time of year when interest in the game — such as it is — begins to quicken. In Canada, playoffs are what matter most.
The real damage will occur only after the 2004-05 season is cancelled, a development that will pre-empt the collective bargaining process for the next six-to-eight months. From there, an industry that is already in trouble will shrink significantly and the next time they get around to dividing the pie, it'll be a whole smaller than the $2.1 billion that's on the table right now. Accordingly, there is value to salvaging the season, but only if both sides can get their heads around that simple fact — and soon. This column was written by Eric Duhatschek and appeared in The Globe and Mail
In effect, there was no need to go any further. Daly promised to keep the "lines of communication open," in the hopes that there would be "further discussion," and concluded by saying, "the window of time we have for playing hockey this season is very short."
But we knew that already.
The dynamic changed on the second day of meetings between players and owners, in part because Harley Hotchkiss, the NHL's chairman of the board, wasn't present for the dialogue. Hotchkiss flew to Calgary Wednesday night so he could attend Thursday afternoon's funeral (and act as a pallbearer) for Bud McCaig, his good friend and partner in the Flames' organization.
Hotchkiss was asked to attend the first day of meetings by NHLPA president Trevor Linden, in the hopes that the two — a couple of plain-talking Westerners - could find some common ground upon which to base further negotiations.
The two succeeded in getting a lively discussion started, but once both men had said their peace, at some point, they had to take the next step, so the process could move from the theoretical to the practical. Negotiations usually begin when one party says to the other, 'if I give you this, will you give me that?'
Sadly, things never got to that stage. As soon as the NHL began to talk about an economic system that tied player salaries to revenues, the NHLPA instinctively balked — and the two sides were right back to square one. Afterwards, they were both good at avoiding the acrimony or colorful language that characterized previous failed negotiations. Instead, what emerged was a collective sense of resignation. Any small flicker of hope - that one or the other might budge off its philosophical starting point - was dashed in a meaningful and potentially fatal way.
Logically, the NHL will make one last attempt to engage the NHLPA in a "cost certainty" discussion between now and the end of the month and if that initiative fails, then the season will be cancelled.
If history is any indication, that effort will have to come sometime next week. Ten years ago, during the last lockout, the two sides seemed to be hopelessly bogged down in the details as well. That year, the NHL issued a news release on Jan. 7, 1995, saying that the 1994-95 season would be cancelled on Jan. 10 at noon Eastern time if a new CBA was not reached with the players' association. That was the bleakest moment of the last dispute, when it looked as if there was no hope whatsoever of salvaging the year.
Within 72 hours, working against a feverish deadline, the two sides hammered out an agreement and 10 days later — on Jan. 20, 1995 — they dropped the puck on an abbreviated 48-game season.
About the only remaining hope now is that one side or the other (but preferably both) acknowledge the destructiveness of the path they're heading down. Remember, Linden went out of his way to include Hotchkiss in the process, presumably because he knows that in his other businesses, he is known as a dealmaker. An important part of the process of making a deal — and forging a partnership — is to understand and acknowledge the other side's problems and issues, something that really hasn't happened yet.
As yet, there hasn't been any irreparable damage done to the NHL. No major sponsors have bailed out on the league. The first game in the new television contract with NBC was supposed to air only a couple of weeks ago. South of the 49th parallel, this is generally the time of year when interest in the game — such as it is — begins to quicken. In Canada, playoffs are what matter most.
The real damage will occur only after the 2004-05 season is cancelled, a development that will pre-empt the collective bargaining process for the next six-to-eight months. From there, an industry that is already in trouble will shrink significantly and the next time they get around to dividing the pie, it'll be a whole smaller than the $2.1 billion that's on the table right now. Accordingly, there is value to salvaging the season, but only if both sides can get their heads around that simple fact — and soon. This column was written by Eric Duhatschek and appeared in The Globe and Mail
posted by SportsDoc at 7:57 AM
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