Report emerges of League Readying to Cancel Games through December 15 -NHL Lockout Update
The National Hockey League (NHL) is going through one of its worst lockouts in recent history with it being the second one in less than a decade and according to recent reports, the league could be readying to cancel scheduled games up until December 15,
2012.
This would definitely be a major chunk being cut out after the preseason was the first one to cancelled entirely, followed by the regular season and the 2013 NHL Winter Classic after the league and Players’ Association failed to reach a deal in time.
In the report by Chris Botta from Sports Business Journal, the next seven days have been termed as the deadline of the decision to be made and most likely a week which will have the NHL announce the cancellation.
The previous collective bargaining agreement came to an end on September 15, 2012, and forced the NHL to officially bring the lockout into play. Negotiations on a new labour dead had kicked off earlier this year in June, but nothing significant has been
reached as of yet in that regard.
In even a bigger report, the next cancellation just might be the entire regular season as step-by-step cancellations are slowly but gradually becoming unfeasible. With both sides again deadlocked due to a number of issues, there is no telling when they might
meet again and when a new deal could come around. There is much at stake for most players and team owners as well. For the players, it is not as much as an issue for salary but also for their careers, especially the older ones.
The NHL and Players’ Association have stopped talking altogether and have not met after their previous meeting on Sunday and a slight negotiation on Monday during the Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony.
It will be interesting to see how the next couple of days fair out as all stakeholders are on the edge of their seats and fans hopeful of the puck to drop soon as there is just no end to the lockout in sight at all.
Updates should be expected in the next 24-48 hours.
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