It looks like NHL hockey has been salvaged…
According to TSN.ca, a 10-year collective bargaining agreement has been reached between the NHL and NHLPA to end the nearly five month old lockout that has wiped out much of the 2012-13 season. The Majors’ Nick Mann reported early Sunday morning that talks between the two sides were still ongoing as of 1AM ET culminating to the tentative agreement around 6AM ET.
First post. Up all night checking on the NHL/NHLPA CBA.
— Nick Mann (@NickMannDET) January 6, 2013
Deal is done. #TSN
— Aaron Ward (@NHL_AaronWard) January 6, 2013
So that's it, tenative deal is done. Sunday Jan 6.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 6, 2013
A tentative agreement has been reached between NHL and NHLPA – source
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 6, 2013
The next step in the process is ratification and determining a tentative start date which was rumored to be January 19th enabling there to be around 48 games. Ironically this is the same number of games the league played back in 1995 the last time a lockout shortened the regular season.
Best news: CBA, if ratified and no hiccups in documentation, is 10 yrs with opt out after 8. 8 coincides nicely with my retirement date.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 6, 2013
“We have reached an agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed to reporters early Sunday morning. “”I want to thank Don Fehr. We still have more work to do, but it’s good to be at this point.”
Now according to TSN.ca’s Aaron Ward and Pierre LeBrun, the new CBA will feature the following:
- A salary cap of $64.3 million (the upper limit of last years cap) which is a victory for the Players Association given the owners originally wanted a $60 million dollar cap. There will also be a salary cap floor of $44 million starting next season.
- There will be an opt-out clause in year 8 of the 10 year CBA agreement. Which probably means there will be another lockout come 2020.
- The salary variance on contracts from year to year cannot vary more than 35 per cent and the final year cannot vary more than 50 per cent of the highest year. This is directly from TSN.ca.
- The player contract limit is seven years and eight years for teams signing their own free agents. Again this is up from the original demand of five years from the NHL.
Obviously this is great news for hockey fans and the league. However the initial details don’t reveal anything that’s really substantial enough that’s going to improve the business side of the game in the coming years. Hopefully we hear more about about contract buyouts and if that is part of the deal as well as detailed plans to win back fans.
Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
h/t: TSN.ca