Justin's Political Corner
After months of being locked in a labour stalemate, the National Hockey League and its players are finally ready to get back to work.
Early on Sunday morning — day 113 of the lockout — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed from New York the two sides had reached a tentative agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement that will finally spark the beginning of the 2012-13 NHL season.
Details of the new CBA were not immediately available, and Bettman cautioned they still needed to be ironed out fully.
“We have reached an agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement, the details of which need to be put to paper,” Bettman told a news conference. “We’ve got to dot a lot of i’s and cross a lot of t’s. There’s still a lot of work to be done but the basic framework of the deal has been agreed upon.”
There was no official word on when training camps could begin or when the regular season was slated to kick off — or how many games will be played — but it has been reported the Stanley Cup playoffs would end in late June.
However, according to Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman the sides settled on a seven-year maximum term for free agents (eight if the team is re-signing its own free agent). Friedman also reported the deal is for 10 years with an opt-out after eight, and that the NHL came up from its original salary cap demands, from $60 million US to $63.4 million. The floor next season will reportedly be $44 million.
On variance, according to Friedman, they agreed that the lowest-paid season of any multi-year deal can be no lower than 50 per cent of the highest season. The sides both agreed to split up hockey-related revenue 50/50 for the duration of the 10 years.
The Canadian Press also reported each team can use up to two compliance buyouts prior to the 2013-14 season, which will count against the players’ share of hockey-related revenue.
Those hoping to see their favourite NHL players make the trip to the 2014 Sochi Olympics to compete will have to wait a while to find out. Friedman tweeted that their participation will be negotiated separately, while he says re-alignment also remains unsettled.
The majority of both the NHL’s 30-member Board of Governors and NHL players still need to ratify the agreement.
“Hopefully within a very few days the fans can get back to watching people who are skating, not the two of us,” said Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players’ Association.
An emotional ride for fans and those involved in the game alike was put to an end when the deal was put in place.
One of the more prominent players throughout the negotiations, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, was already gearing up to get back on the ice.
“I’m really happy a deal has been reached,” Crosby told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “It’s exciting to know we will be back playing hockey.”
The news came after a marathon 16-hour negotiation session with U.S. federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh in New York. Beckenbaugh, who was also involved in the 2004-05 lockout, was able to bring the two sides together for a marathon collective bargaining session Saturday after shuffling back and forth between the groups separately on Friday.
They were the first face-to-face talks since negotiations broke down on Thursday.
A series of proposals and counterproposals were exchanged between the two sides, beginning with a comprehensive 288-page document submitted by the NHL Dec. 27.
Bettman has maintained the deadline to preserve a 48-game schedule and have a new CBA signed was Jan. 11, but the hope is more can be squeezed in now that the deal was reached beforehand.
h/t: CBC.ca
The greatest irony in the National Hockey League pulling together a focus group to test its messaging in the lockout: That hiring GOP toad Frank Luntz to handle said focus group probably further tarnishes their image.
(This isn’t meant to be a partisan comment, mind you; rather a definition of terms, in that Luntz frequently works for the GOP and is, in fact, akin in his demeanor to an amphibious reptile that lives in a bog and devours insects for sustenance.)
Barry Petchesky of Deadspin on Monday published an inside look at an NHL focus group facilitated by Luntz Global, which previously brought the world such memorable messaging as “the death tax.”
From Deadspin:
As for the owners’ slogan, one laughable phrase kept coming up: “Shared sacrifice.”
“Maybe we asked for too much at first,” Luntz’s mock-NHL-exec speech went, “but we’re willing to give. The NHLPA has to be willing to give as well, if we’re going to give the fans back their hockey. There’s no way we’re going to do this without both sides bringing something to the table.”
The NHL is losing the publicity war. While most fans categorize the negotiations as the rich vs. the richer, there’s almost no sympathy for Bettman and the owners for promulgating their third lockout in 18 years. That’s a perception they’re desperate to change. While concessions will come at the bargaining table, the court of public opinion will dictate which side feels the most pressure to compromise. And, of course, when hockey does come back, the league doesn’t want fans to feel so bitter that they stay away from the game. That’s where Luntz’s research fits in.
Check out the eight exercise packet and Barry’s take on the matter over on Deadspin. A few reactions to an insightful piece …
(A little background: I’ve worked in politics and in market research before, so this stuff is in my wheelhouse.)
• The NHL does market research fairly regularly, but we’ve learned this was the first lockout-specific focus group since the work stoppage began.
What does that mean regarding the potential duration or intensification of the negotiations? I actually read it as a positive sign that we’re going to get meaningful talks on the big issues soon, as the NHL is attempting to ascertain how public opinion could weight on the players depending on the timing or contents of a League offer. You don’t go down this road, strategically, unless you believe the information will be vital.
So for this complete non-issue, the NHL commissioned one of the world’s biggest market research firms to ask a specific question about public sentiment on revenue sharing. OK then.
• Not a single question about giving Bettman sunglasses and a surfboard to increase his demographic appeal? Really, Frank?
• If you’re wondering what the NHL will be shoveling your way in the near future:
Deadspin
• Imagine our surprise when we discovered Puck Daddy’s “What We Lost When The NHL Lost Opening Night” column — word for word for word for word — served as the basis for one of Luntz’s exercises.
Divide and conquer, the formula from the 2005 lockout victory.
The players and their agents have fruitlessly tried to make the same play with the owners — there’s actually a reference in the Luntz materials to a “group of eight owners” shutting out the rest of their brethren in talks. But there’s a better chance that the NHL succeeds with that gambit because you’re dealing with players of different ages, salary levels and personal lives.
It’s one of the reasons Donald Fehr encourages the swift, mass exodus of players to Europe: Both as a show of solidarity, but also as a way to stay happy by playing hockey and making coin.
Clearly, the NHL still feels like there’s a chance to break the union by playing up a schism between the players and Fehr. But Fehr’s worked for more than a year on solidifying that support. It’s not going to be as easy as it was seven years ago.
BREAKING: The NHL cancels the 1st two weeks of the regular season.BOB SAGET! breakingnews.com/item/ahZzfmJyZ… /@breakingnews #nhl #NHLlockout
— Justin Gibson (@JGibsonDem) October 4, 2012
What do Gary Bettman and Mitt Romney have in common? They both like to ignore the will of the people.
Via someecards
NHL lockout officially begins as collective bargaining agreement expires. bit.ly/R8B5Iy
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 16, 2012
This is all Gary Bettman’s fault that this is happening. It’s also the owners’ faults. And it’s also Mitt Romney’s and Paul Ryan’s faults that it happened.
NEW YORK — The NHL says there will be no bargaining with the players’ union Saturday, leaving nothing to stop a lockout.
The action adds to the labor unrest across American professional sports. This will be the third lockout of a major sports league in 18 months, following ones in the NFL and the NBA.
“We talked with the union this morning and in light of the fact that they have nothing new to offer, or any substantive response to our last proposal, there would be nothing gained by convening a bargaining session at this time,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN.com.
“I’m sure we will keep in touch in the coming days and schedule meetings to the extent they might be useful or appropriate. We are sorry for where we are. Not what we hoped or expected.”
Daly had conferred with players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr, the brother of NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, to see if there would be face-to-face talks.
“Today we suggested that the parties meet in advance of the owners’ self-imposed deadline of midnight tonight,” said Steve Fehr. “Don Fehr, myself and several players on the negotiating committee were in the city and prepared to meet. The NHL said that it saw no purpose in having a formal meeting. There have been and continue to be private, informal discussions between representatives of both sides.”
This was the third straight day the sides spoke by phone but avoided the negotiating table. By early afternoon it became clear the league was heading to its fourth work stoppage since 1992.
For nearly a year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said he will lock out players if a collective bargaining agreement wasn’t set by the time the current one expires.
It now appears unlikely that training camps will open next week. The regular season had been scheduled to begin Oct. 11, but that is also in peril.
While this lockout might not wipe out the whole season as the one in 2004-05 did, a good chunk of games could be lost without productive talks soon.
H/T: ESPN.com
