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Welp, finally in substantive talks supposedly. Does anyone like the odds of a December 1st start to a shortened season?
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I don't like it one bit... but I'll take it. I figure they'll do about 40-50 games?Originally posted by wiseguyComment
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They will return sometime next year both sides are not budging enough to resolve this anytime soon...Now who`s that babe with the fab-u-lous shad-ow?Comment
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I'm gonna be checking out the Kalamazoo Wings when they stop by Gwinett Arena to kick the Gladiators asses in January! Can't wait!
GO K-WINGS!
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Mediators Will Oversee Negotiations On Lockout
November 26, 2012
By JEFF Z. KLEIN
The N.H.L. and players’ association have agreed to mediation in an effort to break the stalemate in negotiations between the two sides, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service announced.
“At the invitation of the F.M.C.S., and with the agreement of both parties, the ongoing negotiations will now be conducted under our auspices,” George H. Cohen, the service’s director, said in a statement Monday, the 72nd day of the N.H.L. lockout.
Three mediators will be involved in the negotiations, including the deputy director Scot L. Beckenbaugh and the director of mediation services John Sweeney. Commissioner Guy Serota was originally assigned to the talks, but was removed an hour later because of comments made on a Twitter account with his name.
Beckenbaugh served as a mediator during the 2004-5 N.H.L. lockout, when the season was canceled.
“While we have no particular level of expectation going into this process, we welcome a new approach in trying to reach a resolution of the ongoing labor dispute at the earliest possible date,” Bill Daly, the N.H.L.’s deputy commissioner, said in an e-mail. “We have no further comment on the upcoming meetings at the current time.”
The two sides last met last Wednesday, when the N.H.L. rejected most parts of a union proposal that moved in the owners’ direction on several issues. A league spokesman, Gary Meagher, said no negotiating sessions were scheduled as of Monday afternoon.
Donald Fehr, the executive director of the N.H.L. Players’ Association, said in a statement that the union looked forward to the mediators’ involvement.
William B. Gould IV, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board and a professor emeritus at Stanford Law School, said it was impossible to say whether mediation would help bring a settlement.
“You can’t gain any hope as a result of this, per se,” said Gould, who has served as an arbitrator in baseball and will appear as an expert witness for the N.H.L. at a Quebec labor board hearing next week on whether the lockout is lawful under the province’s laws. “But look, it’s better than the alternative. If the parties had said they don’t want to go to mediation, that would be downright discouraging. So the fact they’re willing to do it, that they have some things to discuss, is in itself hopeful.”
The presence of federal mediators was credited with helping to bring about settlements in the N.F.L. and N.B.A. lockouts last year, but mediation did not lead to a successful resolution of the 2004-5 N.H.L. lockout.
On Feb. 13, 2005, Beckenbaugh, then the acting director of the federal mediation service, ordered the league and union to meet in Washington one day ahead of a deadline for cancellation of the season imposed by Commissioner Gary Bettman. It was the third time, all in February, in which mediators intervened in the lockout.
At that bargaining session, the union agreed for the first time to discuss acceptance of a salary cap. Over the next two days of talks, the league offered a salary cap set at $42.5 million a team, and the union offered a salary cap set at $49 million. But the gap was too wide for the owners, and Bettman announced the season’s cancellation Feb. 16.
That 2005 gap, calculated on a leaguewide basis, came to $195 million for the season. Mediators in the current talks will try to close an estimated gap of $182 million over five seasons, or $36.4 million a season. But issues pertaining to free agency, arbitration and contract limits also remain unresolved.
Cohen said in his statement that he “had separate, informal discussions with the key representatives of the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association during the course of their negotiations.”
Cohen will not take part in the mediation. He did participate last year during the N.B.A. and N.F.L. lockouts and in 2010, when he helped avert a strike by the Major League Soccer players union.
According to his biography on the F.M.C.S. Web site, Beckenbaugh has mediated agreements in the cereal, heavy equipment manufacturing, aluminum and meatpacking industries.
NY TimesComment
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Gary Bettman is David Stern's little Bitch boy and has ruined this league since he got into it. That prick needs to go!!!!!!!
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Yeah, this season is not happening. Fuck.Originally posted by wiseguyComment
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except that in fla hockey tickets do not cost $125 each and not to mention $11 for a beer like up here...oh and its 6 degrees right now and we have snow....Cheers!Now who`s that babe with the fab-u-lous shad-ow?Comment
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I love hockey especially the NHL . Up until this year , it has been my traditional " sports fix " while baseball hibernates . I love the NFL but it functions only once , sometimes twice a week . The NBA bores me to tears .
I can't even begin to explain how deeply dissapointed I am in this whole scenario . Another case of millionaires vs. millionaires while the average Joe suffers . As of today , it truly looks like there may not be a 2012 - 2013 season at all . The NHL has a core fan-base that is incredibly loyal , but , our time and patience is running out . Hopefully , the powers that be will actually realise this .Comment
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don't hold you breath.....guy on my street plays in the nhl and he just left this week to play in Europe...Now who`s that babe with the fab-u-lous shad-ow?Comment
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The guys that have gone over to Europe like Ovechkin and Kane are smart enough to stay in game shape and while making money at the same time. Both of them I think are even selling their own branded apparel with the teams they are playing for over there while the asswipes at the NHL keep the doors locked. I don't blame them the players a bit.Comment
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Sure they do. We have one of the best arenas in the game and shit is crazy expensive. The saving grace is we've been a terrible mismanaged team for the last 10 years so tickets have been relatively cheap and easy to get, but that's changing after the turn-around that begun last year. If I recall correctly, beers were $8 last year. Fucking rip off. And that's not the good, strong Canadian beer either.
I'm sure snow and blizzards makes going to games fun, easy and exciting. Rolling up in shorts and a t-shirt isn't bad either. Come down when/if the season starts and I'll show you S. Florida hockey. It's a good time.Originally posted by wiseguyComment
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A lot of people in the bar industry are suffering here, there's a real difference in patronage on game nights during the season. They're especially leery of no playoffs as almost every bar/pub/tavern/grill is packed in Buffalo when the Sabres are in the playoffs...Comment
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