League, Players' Association still Far Apart from Getting Down to Talks -NHL Lockout Update
It is a well known fact that the National Hockey League (NHL) and Players’ Association are still talking, under the radar, and mainly over the phone, but unfortunately, there are no signs that both stakeholders are ready for serious talks on the bargaining
table any time soon.
With Thursday having been set as the deadline by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in order to have a full 82-game regular season if a deal is reached by then, it looks like even that will come to pass as both sides are deadlocked on certain issues.
Core economic issues remain to be solved and three days just do not seem to be enough in any scenario, which definitely has fans praying for a miracle in order to have a full hockey season.
"We had a conference call today to answer some of their questions," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Associated Press in an e-mail Sunday. "No bargaining. And no bargaining meetings scheduled."
There is still confusion at what should be the agendas for upcoming meetings as the league is not budging from their 50-50 offer and the labour union will not accept it until a few of their tweaks and changes are made to it.
"There are multiple frameworks for a deal on the table," NHLP Special Counsel, Steve Fehr, said Sunday. "We gave them three good ones on Thursday. Each moves toward a 50-50 split of (hockey-related revenue) that the league wants. Each allows the contracts
in place to be honoured.”
All three of the NHLPA’s proposals were rejected flat out during the previous meeting, which last a little over an hour in the league office, which now has the labour union working on getting their contracts honoured instead of fighting for a new collective
bargaining agreement. It looks like the Players’ Association has given up to some extent, breaking the hearts of fans around the globe looking desperately for someone who will be able to end the deadlock and get the players back on the ice.
Updates and developments should be expected in the next day or two as both sides continue to work something out.
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