50/50

One week into regular season games being cancelled the NHL made a big step forward with a proposal on Tuesday.

The latest CBA presented to the players by the NHL consisted of hockey related revenue being split 50/50 and if a deal was reached an 82 game season could still take place starting on November 2nd.

This proposal had hockey fans optimistic as signs were shown that this lockout could be a short one and a whole season might not be lost.

The players did not accept the NHL's proposal as presented offering three counter proposals in which the revenue the players received would go down to 50/50 on a sliding scale instead a direct cut.

The NHL rejected all three proposals right away and instead of a deal being reached we are now into Week 2 of the lockout.

Despite what went down this past I am more optimistic about a deal being reached that I was a week ago. The reason being that the main hurdle in this lockout has finally been identified.

The 50/50 split.

I have felt all along that when a deal was reached it was going to be a 50/50 split of revenue being shared. The only question was which side was going to be the first to go there.

To the surprise of many people it was the NHL. As to myself, I wasn't surprised by this.

Despite NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman saying he has support from all 30 owners to lockout the players I'm not convinced all the owners are unified as they were eight years ago.

There are twelve owners who weren't in the NHL during the last lockout. I believe Bettman is feeling heat from some of these owners as well as NHL sponsors to get a deal done and get the players back on the ice.

If you look at the last lockout Bettman and the owners were more than willing to wait out the players to get the deal they wanted. With social media being more prevalent than it was eight years ago the NHL has taken a big hit in the PR department.

That's why I think the NHL made the proposal they did, to paint the players in a negative light and get some good PR back on their side.

Did it work? I believe it did for a couple days until the players offered their counter proposals and said they were willing to go to a 50/50 split as long as the contracts the owners signed the players to were honored.

And that is the main sticking point right now in obtaining the 50/50 split, current contracts being honored.

The NHL said a deal had to be reached by October 25 for a full season to take place. I don't see that happening and I'm OK with that. The thought of cramming 82 games in a short time span doesn't excited me. 

Teams play an average of 12 games per month. If a deal is reached and hockey returns in November you are looking at a schedule of 70 games at the most. If a deal is reached in December my guess is something in the 58-66 game realm.

I have always felt a deal would be reached by Thanksgiving and games would start in mid-late December at the earliest. After what I saw this week I'm more confident than ever that will be the case.

The NHL, by offering their proposal, tells me they do not want to lose an entire season. The players I know feel the same way. With the difference being four percent of hockey related revenue it isn't worth losing a season over.

The barometer for a deal has been set by both sides at 50/50. The only question is how and when do we arrive there. 

Casualty Of The NHL Lockout: The First Two Weeks Of The Season.

Earlier in the summer a co-worker of mine asked if the NHL was going to lock out it's players, causing games to be missed.

I responded by saying No, figuring common sense would prevail and a new CBA would be reached in time to start the season. I didn't think the NHL was stupid enough to miss games due to another work stoppage after cancelling a whole season eight years ago.

I was wrong.

The NHL is stupid enough to cancel games because of a work stoppage.

Earlier today the NHL announced that all games from October 11th through the 24th would be cancelled. 

The reason for this work stoppage is because the owners and the players can't decide on the best way to divide hockey related revenue.

In the first proposal by the owners the NHL wanted players to receive 43 percent of the revenue instead of the 57 percent they are receiving now.

The players in return proposed to drop the percentage of revenue received from 57 to 54 in the first season of a new CBA. The plan would then be for the percentage of hockey related revenue to drop by one percent each season until it reached 50 percent. The owners then countered with a new proposal in which the players would receive 47 percent of hockey related revenue instead of 43.

So if you are keeping score at home,the owners are proposing 47 percent in the first season while the players are proposing 54 percent.

That's right, a seven percent difference between the two is what's causing the first two weeks of the season to be cancelled.

Now there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides but I think the main question hockey fans are asking is if the season is in jeopardy.

My gut feeling tells me no.

One of the reasons I feel this way is both sides are still communicating with each other. Back in September of 2004 when the last lockout started the two sides didn't meet for negotiations until December. By that time it was too late to save the season. As long as both sides are still talking to each other there is an opportunity for a deal to be reached.

I've always felt that if a lockout happened a deal would be reached by Thanksgiving at the earliest. I still feel that way only because I believe common sense will prevail and both sides will agree to a 50/50 split of hockey related revenue.

Of course I also felt that common sense would prevent the NHL from having it's fourth work stoppage in 20 years.

I think the fact the NHL only postponed the first two weeks of the season is a good sign that a deal can still be reached. If a deal wasn't probable I think the first month of the season would have been cancelled.

In reality the NHL can afford to miss the month of October. Hockey is usually under the sports radar during the first month of their season as their fans go,with football having a stranglehold on Sundays and the MLB Playoffs going on.

Once the World Series is over though the pressure will ramp up from hockey fans wanting their game back on the ice. It's up to the owners and the players to figure this deal out.

After all it's only seven percent that is keeping the season from getting started.