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.