National Hockey League Lockout

At 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012, the National Hockey League (NHL) declared a lockout of the players after its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired. The collective bargaining agreement is a contract between the NHL and the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) that establishes rules and regulations regarding wages, player rights, working hours and training.

The main issue at the heart of this lockout is how the revenues created by the NHL will be allocated. Last season, the players were given 57 percent of the revenues. Of the 30 teams in the NHL, only 12 made profits last season, with the remaining 18 barely breaking even. The owners wanted to cut player revenues down to 47 percent by the end of the sixth year of a new CBA. The players are willing to make cuts, but only to a certain extent. The two parties have been trading offers since September, but still remain at a standstill.

The most recent offer from the NHL was a 50-50 split in revenue, along with a 12 percent pay cut.

“We very much want to preserve a full 82-game season, and in that light, we made a proposal, an offer, really, that is our best shot at preserving an 82-game regular season and playoffs, and this offer that we made obviously was contingent upon having an 82-game regular season. We have about nine or ten days to get this all put to bed, signed, sealed and delivered, in order for this offer to be effective and for us to move forward,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman according to the Washington Times.

However, the NHLPA has declined the offers, counter offering instead with three proposals. After reviewing the offer, Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHLPA, responded, according to the Washington Times, “We think there’s three alternatives and we hope we can live with any one of them if it provides the right kind of negotiating framework, so pick one.”

The NHL has rejected all three alternatives, although, according to Fehr, the third proposal was basically a 50-50 revenue split, with the addition that the NHL honors any previous contracts.

“It’s a very simple proposition,” said Fehr to the Washington Times. “We’ll get you to 50/50 but you’ve got to agree to honor the contracts that you just signed. We think it makes a lot of sense. We think it really is fair. It couldn’t be more balanced in that regard.”

This is the NHL’s third lockout within eight years. In the ’04-’05 season, the CBA negotiated in the 94-95 season expired. In years prior to the lockout, NHL clubs lost 273 million dollars, partly because NHL players gained such a large proportion of revenue.

As of Oct. 20, there have been no further meetings scheduled for both sides, and a short phone call between two people from each party has been the closest interaction.