TSN reports NHL deal to be announced today

[Ninot]

The NHL's long awaited new CBA will be completed today, sources close to the talks told TSN Wednesday.

An extended session between the NHL and NHL Players' Association, which started at Noon et on Tuesday, is apparently continuing and should soon produce the agreement that would be the catalyst to ending the 301-day labour dispute, the longest in the history of North American professional sports.

It has become painfully evident that the two sides have had to do more than dot i's and cross t's and satisfy legal requirements in the last few days. Mind you, there has unquestionably been a lot of that to do. But there has also been back and forth negotiations on some final unresolved issues.

Sources say there's nothing left on the table that is likely significant enough to derail the entire process, which is now in its final hours, but more time is required to finish off these items to the satisfaction of the league and the union.

Today is the 10th consecutive day the two sides have been engaged in marathon talks and the appearance seems to be that they are now prepared to meet for as long as it takes to get an agreement.

The wait should be over before the end of the day.

Stay tuned.

TSN story

Its about time Tired of hearing bickering, anxious to hear trade rumours again.

[Flubber]

FINALLY!!!! I had stopped paying attention but when they play again, I will watch

[Ninot]

TSN is slow on the uptake, but...

reports are that its a 6 year deal, with an option for the NHLPA to opt out after 4 years.

Rumors are that they are tieing up a few last things and they'll make some kind of announcement mid-day today.

[Kontiki]

There's been rumors that "a deal is done" for weeks now. I'm sure they're close, but I'll believe it when I see it.

[rah]

I heard that the players are settling for less than the offer made to save the season halfway through the last season. If true, they're going to look pretty stupid.

[Kontiki]

I think it's a given that the players are taking a beating on this one compared to their original position or even the mid-season offer.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by rah
I heard that the players are settling for less than the offer made to save the season halfway through the last season. If true, they're going to look pretty stupid.

3 million per team less, reportedly.

[rah]

No one ever accused hockey players of being too smart.

[Brundlefly]

NHLPA made a major mistake when it flatly rejected a salary cap early in the negotiating process. And the NHLPA should have looked into each team's finances long before the collective-bargaining agreement expired on Sept. 15. The whole impasse was created by their irresponsibility and their incompetence..

[Ninot]

Originally posted by bfg9000
NHLPA made a major mistake when it flatly rejected a salary cap early in the negotiating process. And the NHLPA should have looked into each team's finances long before the collective-bargaining agreement expired on Sept. 15. The whole impasse was created by their irresponsibility and their incompetence..

well the NHLPA frankly didn't trust the Owners to show them their finances, because they long stated that the Owners were hiding revenue from them so that any linkage to revenue would give the players less than they would deserve.

I believe it was only recently that the NHLPA and NHL hammered out exactly what had to represent revenue and what had to represent costs, so that a trust could be reached.

[JohnT]

Oh, well. It couldn't have lasted forever.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

The deal was JUST reported. Honestly, I clicked the link on SI.com that said NHL and Players made an agreement, and the link took me to the story that they were close, then I refreshed and it said "Updated at 12:48 EST" with a new story:

NEW YORK (AP) -- NEW YORK (AP) -- The NHL and the players' association reached an agreement in principle Wednesday on a new labor deal, ending a lockout that wiped out last season.

The sides met for 24 hours from Tuesday into Wednesday to hammer out the collective bargaining agreement that will return the NHL to the ice. Both sides still need to raitfy the deal.

That process is expected to be completed next week, the league and the union said in a joint news release.

Discussions resumed Tuesday at noon and were still ongoing at 10 a.m. EDT Wednesday -- the 301st day of the lockout that forced the cancellation of the 2004-05 season.

After meeting every day last week, the sides got together Sunday for a 14-hour session that lasted until early Monday morning. Just six hours later, they were back at the table.

Those talks broke up Monday night and set the stage for the latest marathon session that got under way Tuesday -- the ninth straight days of talks.

The sides have met for 10 consecutive weeks in an effort to get an agreement as quickly as possible so next season can begin on time.

The NHL hoped to have a new deal to present to its executive committee during a meeting Monday, but commissioner Gary Bettman and Daly could only provide an update on negotiations instead.

Once a deal has been worked out, the NHL board of governors will need to approve it, along with the rank and file of the players' association. Until then, the lockout that was imposed by Bettman last Sept. 16 goes on.

The new agreement is expected to contain a salary cap with a ceiling in the upper $30 millions and a minimum in the low-to-mid $20 millions.

Player salaries will not exceed 54 percent of league-wide revenues.

Some players in recent days have voiced their displeasure over what will be included in the new deal.

Bettman warned in February when he canceled the season that the offers the union passed up were better than any it would see once a year of hockey was lost.

Just days before the NHL became the first North American sports league to wipe out a full season, the players' association said for the first time it would accept a salary cap if the NHL dropped its desire to link player costs to revenues.

[Ben Kenobi]

I heard that the players are settling for less than the offer made to save the season halfway through the last season. If true, they're going to look pretty stupid.

Yeah, the owners did well, which will be good for the future health of NHL hockey.

[Kontiki]

Good stuff

Interesting factoid:

Since the first labour meeting in January 2003, the two parties met a grand total of 82 times.
A team plays 82 games during a regular NHL season.

Coincidence? You decide.

[Ninot]

when more of the details come out, it may very well be that a regular season is less than 82 games.

but yes, a very nice coincidence.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The players TOTALLY miscalculated. They believed the owners wouldn't be able to stick together. But if is was true that some owners were making more money having no hockey than actually playing the season, then there was no way there would be owner defections.

[Kontiki]

Kind of ironic that it was a total lack of collective will on the owners part that got them into this mess in the first place.

[Imran Siddiqui]

It makes me think their (the owners) backs actually WERE to the wall.

[DanS]

I don't understand how the players miscalculated so badly. Don't they have finance folks to do the math and then think to themselves what was in the best interests of the game?

[Drake Tungsten]

Originally posted by JohnT
Oh, well. It couldn't have lasted forever.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by DanS
I don't understand how the players miscalculated so badly. Don't they have finance folks to do the math and then think to themselves what was in the best interests of the game?

Well from what i'm watching, the players that are still kinda trying to put a happy face on this deal are saying that they finally got the pension and minimum salary issues they wanted, and that was their main concerns. That's baloney mind you cuz 8 months ago it was all about cap or no cap.

[Ben Kenobi]

Yep, players caved, and the stupid thing is that it cost them a season, that many players will never be able to recover in their careers. The owners might lose a year of operations, but they won't be the ones suffering in the long term.

[Wezil]

So how many fans are sheepishly ready to forgive and forget?

[Ben Kenobi]

Where I'm from, what else are you going to do in the winter other than watch hockey? Their viewership shoudn't suffer, but the attendence will for quite some time to come.

[DanS]

In the States, it probably will be much tougher for hockey to recover. There are other professional sports with which hockey has to compete and most people don't play hockey growing up.

[Wezil]

I watched hockey last year. Good hockey.

I have no interest left for NHL. Crap league and increasingly crappy product. It was good to have a year off to see what I wasn't missing.

[DanS]

What was the good hockey that you watched?

[Ben Kenobi]

Minor leagues presumeably.

I doubt most other Canadians will prefer to watch the minor leagues over the major leagues, once the major leagues start playing.

However, I think the competition with football will be stiffer, and that includes NFL football.

[DanS]

Do Canadians watch the NFL or do they watch the CFL?

[Wezil]

Originally posted by DanS
What was the good hockey that you watched?

http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/natio...ski050529.html

Memorial Cup champions.