NEW YORK (AP) — Lots of questions, but still no answers in the NHL labor fight.
The
league and the players’ association spent much of Saturday talking to
each other via conference call. The conversations were strictly for the
purpose of sharing information regarding the new contract offer the NHL
made to the union late Thursday.
The initial thought was that the
sides would get together Sunday in New York to hold official
negotiations for the first time in weeks, but those weren’t scheduled
before discussions ended Saturday.
Staff level calls were expected
to resume Sunday, which could include face-to-face talks at some point,
but no actual bargaining meetings have been set.
"Some more
informational sessions in the morning," NHL deputy commissioner Bill
Daly told The Associated Press regarding Sunday. "Nothing planned beyond
that."
The union pored over the latest NHL proposal aimed at
ending the lockout that reached its 105th day Saturday and saving the
delayed hockey season. The league would like to reach a deal no later
than Jan. 11, which would allow training camps to start the following
day, and a 48-game season to begin Jan. 19.
Saturday’s conference
calls were scheduled Friday night so the union could ask league
officials questions about the nearly 300-page proposal.
Whether enough
progress will be made to lead to face-to-face talks remains to be seen.
The
sides haven’t gotten together since Dec. 13 with federal mediators.
Bargaining sessions with only the NHL and union involved haven’t been
held since Dec. 6, when talks abruptly ended after the players’
association made a counterproposal to the league’s previous offer. The
league said that offer was contingent on the union accepting three
elements unconditionally and without further bargaining.
The NHL
then pulled all existing offers off the table. Two days of sessions with
mediators the following week ended without any progress made.
The
players’ association’s executive board and negotiating committee went
over the new proposal during an internal conference call Friday.
A
person familiar with key points of the offer told The Associated Press
that the league proposed raising the limit of individual free-agent
contracts to six years from five — seven years if a team re-signs its
own player; raising the salary variance from one year to another to 10
percent, up from 5 percent; and one compliance buyout for the 2013-14
season that wouldn’t count toward a team’s salary cap but would be
included in the overall players’ share of income.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the new offer weren’t
being discussed publicly.
The
NHL maintained the deferred payment amount of $300 million it offered
in its previous proposal, an increase from an earlier offer of $211
million. The initial $300 million offer was pulled off the table after
negotiations broke off earlier this month.
The latest proposal is
for 10 years, running through the 2021-22 season, with both sides having
the right to opt out after eight years.
The lockout has reached a
critical stage, threatening to shut down a season for the second time
in eight years. All games through Jan. 14, plus the Winter Classic and
the All-Star game already have been called off. The next round of cuts
could claim the entire schedule.
The NHL is the only North
American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a
labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game
season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.
It is still possible this dispute could eventually be settled in the courts if the
sides can’t reach a deal on their own.
The
NHL filed a class-action suit this month in U.S. District Court in New
York in an effort to show its lockout is legal. In a separate move, the
league filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor
Relations Board, contending bad-faith bargaining by the union.
Those
moves were made because the players’ association took steps toward
potentially filing a "disclaimer of interest," which would dissolve the
union and make it a trade association. That would allow players to file
antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.
Union members voted
overwhelmingly to give their board the power to file the disclaimer by
Jan. 2. If that deadline passes, another authorization vote could be
held to approve a later filing.
Negotiations between the NHL and
the union have been at a standstill since talks ended Dec. 6. One week
later, the sides convened again with federal mediators in New Jersey,
but still couldn’t make progress.
The sides have been unable to
reach agreement on the length of the new deal, the length of individual
player contracts, and the variance in salary from year to year. The NHL
is looking for an even split of revenues with players.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.