Players Offer Salary Rollback In Labor Meeting
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TORONTO – The NHL players’ association offered an immediate 24% rollback of salaries yesterday as the centerpiece of a new proposal handed to the league in an effort to end the season-long lockout.
“The CBA that we proposed to the league will immediately reduce the value of every current player contract,” NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow said last night. “It will immediately set a dramatically lower base in the negotiation of new contracts and it contains numerous systemic changes in all the leverage points that are contained in the collective agreement.”
The union said all current contracts would be cut, a move that would save NHL teams over $500 million in the next three years.
“I will acknowledge that one aspect of the proposal is very significant,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That element is a recognition by the union of our economic condition, but it is a onetime element. We have said consistently that the focus must be on the overall systemic issues and the long-term needs and health of our game.”
The rollback would change the dynamic for unsigned players, who would work out new deals based on the adjusted salary figures of comparable players and not on the value of their original contracts.
Originally, the sides set up to meet on today, as well, but those talks were pushed back until next Tuesday.
Time is running short to work out a deal and still have a legitimate season. Already 382 regular-season games, plus the All-Star contest have been canceled. Bettman again declined to announce a drop-dead date for the cancellation of the season.
The negotiating session was the first between the league and the NHLPA since September 9, the date of the union’s last proposal. Without a deal in place, Bettman imposed the lockout that reached its 85th day on yesterday.
The sides met for about four hours at the NHL’s office at the Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The NHLPA invited the league back to the table last week.
In addition to the salary rollback, the players’ association also offered a luxury tax that would penalize teams 20 cents on the dollar if the club’s payroll is between $45 million to $50 million; 50 cents on the dollar for payrolls between $50 million to $60 million; and 60 cents on every dollar over that threshold. Other concessions were also offered.
