e2hockey

The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the National Hockey League and its Players' Association is set to expire on September 15, 2004. Financial struggles and ballooning salaries have prompted changes to be demanded by the NHL. The big change that the management wants is a salary cap. With a lockout planned to last as long as 2 seasons if a new agreement isn't signed, the future of professional North American hockey relies on the NHL's current financial status, negotiations between the two sides, and finding a solution to the problem.

Money is issue number one when it comes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The league and its teams have been losing it while the players have been gaining it. The NHL teams reported that, as a whole, they lost a staggering $300 million last season. Money brought into the league went up last year by a sum of $30 million, but the value of each team still dropped an average of 3 percent. To compare revenues to other leagues, one should look at the NFL television deal. Their deal is worth $17 billion while the NHL's is only worth $600 million, or about $6.8 million per franchise. Most of that money comes from ESPN, who has cut 30 percent of its hockey games from their lineup. To make up for the shortcomings, the NHL raises its ticket prices. The end result of the money troubles on the teams was bankruptcy protection for two, and a "for sale" sign for seven. All the losses by the league seem to be attributed to not only the poor ratings, but also the ballooning player salaries.

Seventy-six percent of the NHL teams' revenues are going to player salaries, which are at an average $1.79 million. That's a 300 percent increase from the average salary of $468,000 in 1992, when only 57 percent of revenues were used to pay players (the NFL has had its salaries increase by only 71 percent in the same time period). Of the 720 players in the league, 400 make $1 million or more. Of those 400, 20 make more than $7 million. Why are the salaries skyrocketing?

It's because of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The CBA states that if a team wants to keep a restricted free agent, which is a player that is at the end of their contract and is also younger than 31, he must be offered a 10 percent raise by their team if he's making less than the average salary. If that restricted free agent is offered more than the average, he must be offered at least his previous season's salary. The team also has the option to match an offer by a competing team to keep their player from leaving.

A player who is in his first season cannot be paid more than $1.24 million. Contract bonuses for performance are used to circumvent that number and entice hot prospects. Bonuses are awarded when a player reaches a certain number of goals, assists, or ice time. The Joe Thorton model, named after the Boston Bruins player, is also used. When Thorton signed with Boston, his contract stated that he would receive large balloon payments when he qualified for 3 of the bonuses on his contract. Many, if not all, rookies now look for these payments in their contracts.

The owners feel that a salary cap will help stop the hurting that all the teams are feeling. Their proposed number is a spending limit of $31 million, far lower than teams like the Detroit Red Wings or the New York Rangers. The salary cap that is being proposed is called a "hard" salary cap, which means that no team can exceed the maximum salary number for any reason. A salary cap system is currently in effect in the NBA and the NFL. A luxury tax system is in place in the MLB, where teams who spend over a certain amount on salaries must pay 17 percent of the amount they go over (the New York Yankees is currently the only team who pays the luxury tax).

Another thing that the NHL wants to fix is the salary arbitration process. The current process says that only a player can call for their salaries to be debated. When the player chooses arbitration, he makes an offer and the team makes an offer. A hearing is held, and decisions are made by an independent moderator on what a fair salary is. Numbers in the middle of both offers are usually chosen, which causes salaries to go up. Ideas for changing the arbitration process include letting the team choose when to go to arbitration, and also making the arbitrator pick one offer or the other instead of somewhere in the middle, which would make both sides come up with more realistic numbers.

The players have stated that they will not agree to a salary cap. Their argument is that the league needs to have a free market system like the one currently in place. NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow says that

"Player values are set by the owners. In our system, they always have been. The owners have control. Owners have the ability to determine the player values and decide what they're going to compensate the players for."

What is actually happening, however, is the teams that can afford it are paying players more each year to build the perfect team, while the smaller market teams have a hard time keeping up. For example, the New York Rangers are paying Bobby Holik $9 million this year for being a defenseman that doesn't even play with the top stars of the team.

Not every player feels that salaries should stay so high, however. Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, friends and former teammates, took huge pay cuts to play together for the Stanley Cup while wearing Colorado Avalanche jerseys. Brett Hull, who plays for the fat-walleted Detroit Red Wings, said that 75 percent of the players were overpaid and a salary cap was needed for the NHL to survive. The NHLPA has also offered to cut the salaries of all its players by 5 percent, but the NHL doesn't think that it will be enough to stop the bleeding.

The fans are growing impatient with the players and their stubbornness. After TSN.ca posted a story on their website concerning the CBA, numerous fans showed support for the owners' idea of a salary cap. The NHL Fans Association found that 81 percent of the fans that responded to a recent poll supported a salary cap. Jim Boone, one of the founders of the Fans Association said that the fans are probably most upset over the high ticket prices. He also stated

"A fan whose seat went from $50 per game to $100 over the last six years knows what's going on. He can easily tie the ticket prices to the salaries."

According to what everyone has said and what's been in place in other leagues, the salary cap looks to be the best choice for the future. With even a soft salary cap, one where teams could go over in certain circumstances, salaries would become much more manageable. One thing that should also be discussed is more cost sharing among the teams because of what Ted Saskin, the senior director of the NHLPA, has called "a discrepancy between teams' individual revenues that has grown rather dramatically." The NHLPA has brought it up before, and feels it is a must in the new agreement.

The league has threatened to shut down operations next season if an agreement is not reached in time. This will be devastating to many of the smaller market teams. The commissioner of the NHL is prepared to shut down the league for as long as it takes to reach an agreement. Without games for one or two years, teams like Calgary could fold or be moved before play resumes again.

The NHL set up a website for updates on the CBA talks at http://www.nhlcbanews.com (which now links to a FAQ page explaining the current CBA).

Further reading on the subject of the NHL and its players can be found here:
NHL
National Hockey League Players Association
Gary Bettman's remarks on the NHL labor situation

UPDATE 12/31/2005 artman2003 has a more timeless node on this subject, while mine tends to capture the feelings before the lockout and the new CBA. You can read that node here.

Allen, Kevin. "Lockout Has Both Sides on Edge" USA Today 16 Sept 2003

Allen, Kevin. "Big Faceoff This Season Comes Off the Ice" USA Today 8 Oct 2003

Ozanian, Michael K. "Cracks In The Ice" Forbes 8 Dec 2003

Gills, Charles. "Game Over?" Maclean's 3 Nov 2003

Yorio, Kara. "The War of Words" Sporting News 15 Dec 2003

"They Said It" http://www.savehockey.com/quotes.htm

"Telling Statistics" http://www.savehockey.com/stats.htm 29 Jan 2004

Brehm, Mike and Kevin Allen. "Players Concerned About Labor Situation" USA Today 3 Feb 2003

The Colorado Rockies were an NHL team that came into the league after The Kansas City Scouts were bought and moved to Colorado. The Rockies lasted for six seasons from 1976 to 1982.

Their jerseys were almost identical to the Scouts, aside from a different logo. The Rockies home jersey is mostly white with stripes of yellow and red at the elbows and bottom, while the road jersey is mostly blue with stripes of yellow and red at the elbow and bottom. The center logo is the Colorado flag in the shape of a mountain. The shoulder logo is the flag's red "C" with the yellow circle in the middle. The jerseys, along with other Rockies merchandise, were rereleased for sale recently as part of the NHL's new "Vintage Hockey" line.

The Rockies played at McNichols Arena, which they shared with the NBA's Denver Nuggets. Two General Managers served the team. Ray Miron was with the team fron '76 to '81, and when he left, Bill MacMillan served as the GM for the last season the team was in Denver and stayed with the franchise when it moved. There was a different Head Coach every season. In order, they were John Wilson, Pat Kelly, Aldo Guidolin, Don Cherry, Bill MacMillan, Bert Marshall and Marshall Johnston. The most notable of these coaches was Don Cherry. After being fired from the Boston Bruins for his famous "Too many men on the ice" screwup, Cherry came to the Rockies to coach the 79-80 season. His presence didn't help, however as the team finished with a dismal record of 19-48-13.

The Rockies were terrible every season they played. They usually finished close to or dead last in the league. Their third year, however, the Rockies actually made it to the playoffs. They were quickly ousted in the first round. The fans in Denver did not appreciate the poor performing hockey team. The team played its last game in Denver at the the end of the 1982 season and was bought and moved. Its current home is New Jersey where they play as the Devils. The Devils have had better luck then the Scouts and the Rockies, winning the Stanley Cup three times.

Here's how the Rockies did each season they played:

Year    Record(w-l-t)   Coach            Playoff Result
1976-77   20-46-14      Johnny Wilson    Out of Playoffs
1977-78   19-40-21      Pat Kelly        Lost in round 1
1978-79   15-53-12      Multiple coaches Out of Playoffs
1979-80   19-48-13      Don Cherry       Out of Playoffs
1980-81   22-45-13      Bill MacMillan   Out of Playoffs
1981-82   18-49-13      Multiple coaches Out of Playoffs

http://www.hockeydb.com
http://www.azhockey.com

The National Hockey League Players Association is a labor union that represents the players of the NHL. The headquarters are in Toronto, Canada and consists of about 50 employees. These employees work with such things as labor laws, product licensing, and community relations.

While the management of daily operations is the responsibility of what they call an "Executive Director", the real power is with the players, who each year elect representatives from their respective NHL teams in order to form an Executive Board. Overseeing the board is an Executive Committee with representatives from each team.

In 1967, The NHLPA was founded when representative players from each of the original six NHL clubs met to elect a president and draft a constitution. The representatives were:

• Boston Bruins: Ed Johnston
• Chicago Blackhawks: Pierre Pilote
• Detroit Red Wings: Norm Ullman
• Montreal Canadiens: Bobby Rousseau and J.C. Tremblay
• New York Rangers: Rod Gilbert, Harry Howell, and Bob Nevin
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Bob Pulford

Bob Pulford became the first president of the NHLPA. Pulford stated in a meeting with team owners that if they refused to accept the new organization, the players would seek recognition through the Canadian Labour Relations Board. The NHLPA also appointed an Executive Director, Alan Eagleson, who stayed in the position until 1991. Later that year, he was replaced by Robert W. Goodenow, who is the current Executive Director.

Eagleson, however, did face charges for his actions during his time in the position. On January 6, 1998, he pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud in a Boston court and was required to pay a fine of $1,000,000 (Canadian). In a Toronto court the next day, Eagleson pleaded guilty to three additional counts of fraud and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHLPA and NHL was ratified on July 22, 2005 after a season -long lockout. It is set to expire on September 15, 2011.

http://www.nhlpa.com and http://www.nhl.com

The Colorado Avalanche are a professional hockey team that plays in the Western Conference's Northwest Division of the NHL. They share the Pepsi Center with the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NLL's Colorado Mammoth, and the AFL's Colorado Crush. The Avalanche have won two Stanley Cups and have been division-leading playoff contenders for 9 years straight (1995-2004). The team colors are burgundy, dark blue, white, and black. The logo consists of a large burgundy "A" that has an avalanche of snow falling down the front, ending with a hockey puck at the base of the letter. Their secondary logo is a large foot, presumably belonging to an abominable snowman.

The Colorado Avalanche came into existence when the Quebec Nordiques franchise was moved to Denver, Colorado in 1995, after the team was purchased by the Denver-based COMSAT Entertainment Group, Inc. Its name was decided through a local poll taken by COMSAT. The team is now owned by Stan Kronke who also owns the Nuggets and the Can. He also has money invested in the other two teams hosted at his arena.

The franchise itself started out when the Quebec Nordiques joined the World Hockey Association in 1972. After the WHA folded in 1979, the team joined the NHL.

The Nordiques did not perform well. Though they built up an exciting roster with NHL greats like Michel Goulet, Dale Hunter, Jacques Richard, Anton Stastny and Peter Stastny, the team infrequently made it to the playoffs. The Nordiques did, however, make excellent draft choices, bringing in notable players such as Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Adam Foote, and Owen Nolan. The draft choice that caused the most talk was Eric Lindros. Lindros was drafted first overall by Quebec in the 1991 draft, despite public announcements he made about not wanting to play for the team. Lindros sat out for a year, choosing to play in the Canada Cup instead. In the 1992 draft, the Nordiques had traded Lindros in a multi-player deal to the New York Rangers but the Philadelphia Flyers complained. The Flyers argued that a verbal agreement had been made between them and the Nordiques. An independent arbitrator was brought in to settle the dispute and he ruled that Philidelphia was to receive Lindros and in exchange, Quebec would get Peter Forsberg, Chris Simon, Mike Ricci, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, Ron Hextall, two draft picks and $15 million.

The team was moved to Denver in 1995 and brought in a new General Manager by the name of Pierre Lacroix. Lacroix, who is now famous for making big name trades at the right times, acquired notable players Sandis Ozolinsh and Claude Lemeiux. The biggest move Lacroix made, however, was acquiring Patrick Roy from the Montreal Canadiens after an incident in which Roy vowed never to play for the Habs again. The Avalanche went on to win the Stanley Cup that year, sweeping the expansion Florida Panthers under the direction of head coach Marc Crawford.

In 1998, Crawford declined a contract extension after an early playoff exit, which brought in newcomer Bob Hartley. Hartley brought the team all the way to the Conference finals in his first year, where the were ousted by the Dallas Stars. 1999 was also the year that the Avs moved from the aging McNichols Arena to the brand new Pepsi Center.

2001 was a banner year for the team. The Avalanche hosted the NHL All-Star Game that year in Denver, and later won their second Stanley Cup. After flying through the first three rounds of the playoffs, the Avs beat the New Jersey Devils in seven games. The win was especially sweet for Ray Bourque, a seasoned defenseman traded from the Boston Bruins to the Avalanche the previous season. After winning his first Stanley Cup after 22 seasons, Bourque wisely retired, and the Avs retired his jersey, number 77.

The 2002-2003 season brought along more coaching changes. Bob Hartley was fired by Pierre Lacroix after the team started the season with an abysmal record. He was replaced by his assistant coach, Tony Granato. Granato turned the team around and got them the division championship, which gave them the record for the most consecutive division championships. But the Avalanche were quickly ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Wild.

The end of the season brought news of Patrick Roy's retirement, speculation about the return of Peter Forsberg (who eventually inked a one year deal with Colorado), and the signing of hotshots Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya. The Colorado Avalanche suddenly became one of the favorites to win the 2004 Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, many players were big disappointments.

Paul Kariya, Rob Blake, and Peter Forsberg all had an injury-plagued season. Teemu Selanne was healthy, but played nowhere near expectations without his linemate Kariya. Veteran goaltender Tommy Salo was brought in as a backup to replace the still nervous rookie, Phillipe Sauve. In fact, the only player who seemed consistent was David Aebischer, a second year goalie who stunned all the critics with outstanding play almost every game. Probably one of the most significant losses of the season came from the now infamous attack on rookie Steve Moore, who was struck from behind by veteran Todd Bertuzzi, leaving him with a broken neck and other injuries.

While the Avs performed well in the first round of the playoffs against the Dallas Stars, the San Jose Sharks made the second round a quick one, finishing off Colorado in just 5 games.

At the end of the year, there was another new coach as recently fired St. Louis Blues coach Joel Quennville took over. Tony Granato stayed with the team, taking a demotion as the new assistant coach. With a lockout looming, many of the Avs stars signed on for one or more years, disregarding the potential end; while others were tempted by a different road and signed on with the new WHA or other foreign teams around the world.

2005 brought the end of the NHL lockout and the beginning of a new season for the NHL. Colorado would be celebrating their 10th year in existence, but without a few of its top stars. In what were seen as unnecessary losses by Pierre Lacroix, the Avs would be skating without original Nordiques Peter Forsberg, who returned to the Flyers, and Adam Foote, who signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Another addition was former Vancouver Canuck Brad May. May's signing was seen as a disrespectful move by Lacroix, due to the fact that May had been a key player in the attack on Steve Moore, and was even named as defendant in a related lawsuit.

Avalanche games are televised locally on the Altitude Sports Network, an endeavor by owner Stan Kronke to showcase his sports teams as well as other local athletics from Colorado and neighboring areas.

The Avalanche's retired numbers are:
19 Joe Sakic
33 Patrick Roy
77 Raymond Bourque
99 Wayne Gretzky (League-wide)

http://www.hockey-fans.com/
http://home.globalcrossing.net/~variable/avalanche.html

The Colorado Avalanche logo:

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The above logo is, you guessed it, a registered trademark of the Colorado Avalanche and the NHL.

On September 15, 2004, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman met with the media following the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that had been in place between the owners and the players since 1994. The NHL and the NHLPA could not agree on whether a free market system or a salary cap would be best for the next CBA. Though both sides met many times during the previous year, the two sides stayed very untrusting and made no progress. The players stated that they would never agree to a salary cap, while the owners vowed such a cap would be the only alternative to the losses many franchises were already suffering.

Due to the lack of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the League locked out its players, stating that the 2004-2005 season would not begin until a new agreement was signed. Below is a transcript of the remarks Commissioner Bettman made to the media.

For the past two weeks, the greatest athletes in the world have treated the greatest fans in the world to a spectacular display of hockey -- the greatest sport in the world. For the past two weeks we have also seen how the League and the Players' Association working together, as partners, with common objectives and a commitment to fan satisfaction, can produce an extraordinary result. It is truly unfortunate that the Union's willingness to partner with us does not extend from international competition in the hockey arena to the Collective Bargaining arena.

We are here today because Union Leadership refused for more than a year to make any kind of proposal whatsoever - and during that same year rejected six separate NHL proposals that would have modernized our League's economic system, as other professional sports have done.

I stand here today to say that we owe it to hockey's fans to achieve an economic system that will result in affordable ticket prices and stable, competitive franchises. The very future of our game is at stake, and the NHL's owners are united, as never before - determined to do everything humanly possible to bring hockey's economic system into the twenty - first century.

We have no other choice.

For the past several years, as flaws in the current economic system have become increasingly difficult to overcome, we at the National Hockey League have done everything possible to negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that will work, day-in and day-out, to serve the best interests of all involved.

Sadly, those efforts have not achieved their objective. And as the League stands at the threshold of the conclusion of the current CBA, which occurs at midnight tonight, it is my somber duty to report that at today's meeting, the board of governors unanimously re-confirmed that NHL teams will not play at the expiration of the CBA until we have a new system which fixes the economic problems facing our game.

This action is not taken lightly - or eagerly - and when the Union wants to stop the posturing and acknowledges that the problems are as real as our governors' resolve to fix them, we will be here, ready to make a fair and meaningful agreement that will usher in a new era for our game.

League revenues have grown dramatically to over $2.1 billion annually over the 10-year course of this Collective Bargaining Agreement. At the same time, the League created 100 new NHL player jobs and now roughly 75 cents of every dollar earned now goes directly to player costs.

Over the 10-year span of the current CBA, as the average player salary has grown to more than $1.8 million U.S., the clubs have lost more than $1.8 billion.

Despite the staggering losses, our owners have gone to great lengths to preserve all 30 franchises, and now are determined to make this a viable sport with 30 healthy franchises in the markets in which they are currently located.

That is exactly what we intend to do.

Twenty of our Clubs are losing money. There have been too many bankruptcies and too many other close-calls. I have had too many owners tell me they will get out of this game if the economics are not repaired.

The losses cannot continue. We know it, and we made these facts clear to the Union long ago:

There is no short-cut or quick fix. We need an enforceable, defined relationship between revenues and expenses. We need a system that will eliminate the disparities in payrolls, so that a team's ability to compete depends on its team-building skills, not on its ability to pay.

We believe that such a business model can and must be crafted in a partnership that creates shared rewards.

In July, we offered the Union six different, creative, ground-breaking methods by which those partnership objectives could be attained.

Included in those frameworks was a willingness for the players to receive more than 50% of every dollar of revenues our business generates over $1 billion. It may be less than the players are getting now, but we won't apologize for an offer that is more than fair.

We offered the Union systems that would continue to pay multi-million dollar salaries to our star players. We will not apologize for contracts that could still be in excess of $6million a year, even if some players would make less than they are now getting.

We offered the Union systems that would provide an average player salary of $1.3 million, U.S., per season. An average salary of $1.3 million may be less than the players are getting now, but we will not apologize for an average player salary of $1.3 million per season.

That said, we do apologize to our millions of fans and the thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on our game. It is truly unfortunate that we have to go through this - I assure you that no one is more unhappy about this situation than I am.

My pledge, at this difficult moment, is that we will correct this untenable situation the right way - not with band-aids and half-measures, but in a way that will ensure the health and excitement of our game for years to come. This game's future depends upon getting the right new economic system. In the absence of such a system, there is no future for our game. As difficult as today is, the reality is, we had no choice in the face of the Union's continued refusal to address economic problems that are clear to everyone, but them.

When we offered the six systems, this Union discussed them with us for about eight hours, an average of a bit more than one hour per system.

With the future of the game at stake, the Union basically rejected our proposals - all six - out of hand. And the reason: they say is that all are salary caps.

Under this Union's definition of a salary cap, -- any system that links revenues to expenses or otherwise defines the employees share is a salary cap. There probably isn't any Collective Bargaining Agreement in any industry under the definition that isn't a salary cap. As a result, under the Union's definition, virtually every other Union in every industry has agreed to a CBA that is a salary cap.

The Union says, "we want a marketplace". But they cannot explain why a system - like the current CBA -- which provides for artificial raises based on qualifying offers or which provides for salary arbitration or which guarantees multi-year contracts regardless of the level of continued player performance is a "marketplace".

But, a system with a fair, negotiated percentage of gross revenues going to the players as a group, is not a "marketplace".

The Union defined their marketplace with their most recent proposal, which it waited more than 15 months to deliver.

The Union -- after meandering for more than 40 hours of meetings in the last month, going through a fairly elementary club by club review of business operations as today's deadline approached -- repackaged a proposal that is basically a carbon copy of the ineffective, proposal they made in June of 2003 and then reintroduced on October 1. The Union basically has made the same meaningless offer 3 times.

By the way, under the Union's so-called offer, the Union projects - the Union projects - that at least half the teams will continue to lose money.

Our Clubs were disappointed, but hardly surprised that this was the approach the Union chose to take.

When you look at the history, it is clear that this is a Union Leadership that negotiates only through confrontation, never looking forward to see what is needed or good for the game.

• In 1992, this Union's Leadership decided to strike on the eve of the playoffs.

• In 1994, this Union's Leadership refused to negotiate until the season was about to be cancelled. It was the League that saved the season and encouraged the extension of the current CBA. These decisions may have turned out to be a mistake in hindsight, but they demonstrated, without question, our desire for labor peace. In fact, we have had more than a decade of labor peace - with considerable growth, but at considerable expense.

Consistent with that history of confrontation, this Union again doesn't want to negotiate now.

Why?

Because the Union's goal, the Union's objective for the last five years, has been singular - to keep the status quo - to keep what it has provided to the players and to try to get even more.

But what is the status quo?

For the players, as stated, it is an average salary of $1.8 million, a three-fold increase under this CBA.

For most clubs, however, the status quo means millions in annual losses.

For the League, it has meant bankruptcies in Buffalo and Ottawa and Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

For fans, it has meant high and increasing ticket prices . . . And the status quo has meant teams that cannot meaningfully compete.

It is a fact - a fact - that during this CBA, a team in the top one-third in salaries has been three times more likely to make the playoffs than a team in the bottom third.

This is a status quo with which we simply cannot continue to live.

Our game and our fans deserve better.

Our game deserves better than a Union in denial. Just last week, the Union asserted that the severity of the League's problems is "nowhere near the extent it's portrayed by the NHL" or in any way "related to the CBA".

Really?

The Union has had full access to our financial records for over five years and it has had the Levitt report for over six months.

As you know, the Levitt report was the result of a year-long super-audit by a financial expert of unassailable integrity. Mr. Levitt was granted access to every possible financial figure and revenue stream for every one of our clubs and all of their related entities. He wasn't just handed numbers. He investigated the business and when he had questions - he asked until he was satisfied with the answers. The result of his work was a report that reflected a catastrophic loss in 2002-03 of - more than $270 million, not including another $100 million in losses that any accountant reasonably could have been allowed to claim.

Mr. Levitt offered twice to meet with Union Leadership to answer any questions they might have regarding his methodology or findings. The Union declined.

We have invited the Union repeatedly to conduct its own audit of team economics. It never has accepted the offer. If the Union was so dubious of the financial figures we put before it, as it has stated countless times - if it was so dismissive of Mr. Levitt's findings - one would imagine the Union would jump at an opportunity to conduct its own audit and refute the report based on hard evidence, not rhetoric.

Instead, they showed no interest whatever - which leads one to conclude the Union either knows and does not care about the problems or does not want to know . . . And, either way, does not want to do anything meaningful about the game's economic crisis.

As far back as 1999, we were painfully aware that the economic system was not working. We were growing revenues, but the losses and disparities among the teams continued to increase at an alarming rate. I was so concerned, I wrote a letter to the Union on March 19, 1999 stating that we were worried about the viability of franchises and the loss of too much money. At that time - 1999 -- I offered the Union the opportunity to audit our teams' books. I concluded the letter by saying:

Quote: "If the current trend continues, I cannot predict what shape the League will be in 2004. I can, however, tell you with certainty that the potential for conflict will be greater because we would, under this scenario, be likely to insist on a significant retrenching (not just limiting increases) of player costs." End quote.

This was five years ago that we started to worry that the system was broken and five years ago that we offered to open our books.

In addition, at least twice in the past three years, we approached the Union to make adjustments to the current CBA. We offered, both times: let's freeze what the players have, -- every player keeps what he has -- redistribute dollars spent among the teams and when we can catch up and stop losing money, then we'll share in the growth of our business as partners.

Again and again, negative responses from this Union's Leadership, and things kept getting worse for the game - but - no doubt -- better from the Union's perspective.

The Union's proposal in June of '03 basically would have kept the current system intact, making, at most, only very minor adjustments to a fatally flawed system.

When we said a year ago, "We don't think your plan will work, but if you guarantee the results you are projecting, we'll have something to talk about . . ." The Union's response was, 'We won't guarantee anything; it's just a model.' When we said, 'what if it doesn't work?' the Union said, 'We'll do something else in a few years.'

That answer wasn't acceptable and now, we don't have a few years - or any time - to experiment. And with tonight's conclusion of this Collective Bargaining Agreement, it is the legal entitlement of the Clubs to create change. This is something the Clubs intend to do.

The Union talks about compromise. What is the point of a compromise that does not fix the problems and stop the losses? Should the League be satisfied to lose $150 million instead of $300 million? I think not.

We believe in compromise and negotiating in good faith. But, that doesn't mean we have to agree to continue losing money and we won't. The players did very well under the old CBA. We do not begrudge them that, but we don't have to continue the old system - and incurring any losses -- now that the CBA is over. It's now time to move forward with a system that works for everyone.

This Union doesn't seem to care about the problems, the game or our fans. So to the question: "Why won't the Union negotiate?" The answer: One simple reason, borne out by everything I have described to you today, this Union's Leadership seems to think that its best hope to let the players keep as much as they have as possible -- is to try to win a fight. Simply: The Union is trying to win a fight. Hoping that the owners will give up.

That will turn out to be a terrible error in judgment for the Union. Part of the job of Union Leadership is to understand the realities of the situation, and not bury its head in a state of denial.

It is mid-September. It's the time when our players belong in training camp and the greatest fans in the sports should be getting prepared to go to the rink. It is unforgivable that the Union could see this bleak day approaching and not lift a finger to prevent its arrival.

There is a partnership deal to be made. We encourage the Leadership of the players' Union to join us in partnership.

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