02-03-2005, 04:23 PM
Report: NHL set to cancel season
February 3, 2005
NEW YORK (Ticker) - With little hope of a settlement, it appears the NHL is ready to pull the plug on the 2004-05 season.
ESPNews is reporting that an unidentified team owner has said the league will announce a cancellation of the season either Thursday or Friday. The owner reportedly indicated the announcement could come following Thursday's negotiating session.
If the season in cancelled, the NHL will become the the first North American sports league ever has lost an entire season due to a labor dispute. A Stanley Cup champion has been crowned every year since 1893 with the exception of 1919, when the Finals were canceled after five games due to a flu epidemic.
One day after the NHLPA rejected the NHL's latest proposal, the two sides are meeting again Thursday at an undisclosed venue in New York.
Unlike the previous five meetings, however, Thursday's session includes commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Bob Goodenow.
But with the lockout in its 141st day and over 60 percent of the schedule already postponed, the possibility of salvaging a portion of the 2004-05 season appeared extremely dim. The 1994-95 lockout was settled on January 11, 1995, and a 48-game season began later that month.
On Wednesday, the league revealed a new proposal featuring an equal profit-sharing plan and a salary cap, which it referred to as a "floating team payroll range."
The payroll plan called for a salary floor of $32 million and a cap of $42 million per team. This range would be adjusted each season to reflect changes in league revenues.
Other points of the league's proposal included a mutual arbitration process, a reduction of age for Group 3 free agency and the increase in the minimum players' salary. The NHL also incorporated the union's most recent offer of a 24 percent rollback in salaries in its plan.
The union, which has maintained it never would agree to any deal that includes a salary cap, flatly turned it down.
February 3, 2005
NEW YORK (Ticker) - With little hope of a settlement, it appears the NHL is ready to pull the plug on the 2004-05 season.
ESPNews is reporting that an unidentified team owner has said the league will announce a cancellation of the season either Thursday or Friday. The owner reportedly indicated the announcement could come following Thursday's negotiating session.
If the season in cancelled, the NHL will become the the first North American sports league ever has lost an entire season due to a labor dispute. A Stanley Cup champion has been crowned every year since 1893 with the exception of 1919, when the Finals were canceled after five games due to a flu epidemic.
One day after the NHLPA rejected the NHL's latest proposal, the two sides are meeting again Thursday at an undisclosed venue in New York.
Unlike the previous five meetings, however, Thursday's session includes commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Bob Goodenow.
But with the lockout in its 141st day and over 60 percent of the schedule already postponed, the possibility of salvaging a portion of the 2004-05 season appeared extremely dim. The 1994-95 lockout was settled on January 11, 1995, and a 48-game season began later that month.
On Wednesday, the league revealed a new proposal featuring an equal profit-sharing plan and a salary cap, which it referred to as a "floating team payroll range."
The payroll plan called for a salary floor of $32 million and a cap of $42 million per team. This range would be adjusted each season to reflect changes in league revenues.
Other points of the league's proposal included a mutual arbitration process, a reduction of age for Group 3 free agency and the increase in the minimum players' salary. The NHL also incorporated the union's most recent offer of a 24 percent rollback in salaries in its plan.
The union, which has maintained it never would agree to any deal that includes a salary cap, flatly turned it down.