THN's Campbell: CBA negotiations must get serious, or break off

[cbcwpg]

CBA negotiations must get serious, or break off

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/cba-...0183--nhl.html

It’s time for both sides to stop playing games and do one of two things – get down to some serious negotiating with both sides being more realistic or simply agreeing to disagree and taking a period of time off until one or both sides has something constructive to add to the discussion.

I agree. Meeting just for the sake of telling Joe public you are at least meeting is pointless.

[Qurpiz]

I just have a feeling that if Donald Fehr and Bettman weren't in the room things would've already been solved between Steve Fehr and Daly

[BlueChip01]

Isn't this what Bettman wanted just before the PA came running back?

[crazyforhockey]

Personally I dont think it matter

you have Bettman and at least 8 power broker owners wanting a specific outcome

and you have Fehr and a very large percentage of players unwilling to give up more




then you add in...

that the owners were able to wait a year to get their deal last time...........and probably expected to have a missed year to get what they wanted this time


and players willing to wait at least a year for principles




even though both sides have a 50/50 end game.......the details are a huge stumbling block
what actually constitues HRR......diffrent pie sizes from both sides
contract size length and ufa age
contracts already signed...... ie owners signed a contract and now are paying less after the current CBA is signed

[ottawah]

Originally Posted by Qurpiz

I just have a feeling that if Donald Fehr and Bettman weren't in the room things would've already been solved between Steve Fehr and Daly

Maybe. But at this point the one big stumbling block holding everything up is linkage vs non linkage.

The owners sat out a year to get linkage, do you really think Daly can talk them off that position?

The players (maybe D Fehr, but I'll keep it generic) are adamant linkage is to go, do you really think S Fehr can convince the players otherwise?

I honestly believe when one party moves off their position, this is done within a week. The rest falls in place pretty easily as they are not that far off on many points.

[CerebralGenesis]

S. Fehr and Daly are definitely playing the good cops in this drama.

I think this is already happening though. They talk occasionally and seem to be gauging their parties when they are not.

I think developing some good will would go a long way, but that might be harder than completing a deal.

[Model62]

Originally Posted by ottawah

The owners sat out a year to get linkage, do you really think Daly can talk them off that position?

Where does all this "linkage is inviolate" stuff come from? The owners did not sit out a year last time to get linkage. They sat out to get "cost certainty" -- the salary cap.

In 04-05 the league's last and best offer before they dumped the season did not include "linkage". It included a hard cap ($42M, iirc) unlinked to revenues. The percentage based system came later.

[SJeasy]

Originally Posted by Model62

Where does all this "linkage is inviolate" stuff come from? The owners did not sit out a year last time to get linkage. They sat out to get "cost certainty" -- the salary cap.

In 04-05 the league's last and best offer before they dumped the season did not include "linkage". It included a hard cap ($42M, iirc) unlinked to revenues. The percentage based system came later.

Thank you. This has annoyed me for a long time, linkage is not cost certainty. But the league tends to tout them as synonymous. What I do see the linkage as is an attempt to keep players happy by tying contracts to the well-being of the league. The error in that thinking for the owners was that it was tied to revenues rather than profits and the error from the player's side was not getting disclosure from the league on both sides of the ledger, revenue and expense. Getting expense disclosure and setting up sanctions for overspending/wasting money would go some distance in correcting and identifying problems (eg Moyes, Hicks).

The real solution is tying the fortunes of both groups, players and owners, to the same fleet of ships. If a ship goes down, both sides hurt. If they sail off into the sunset, both sides benefit.

[BLONG7]

Originally Posted by CerebralGenesis

S. Fehr and Daly are definitely playing the good cops in this drama.

I think this is already happening though. They talk occasionally and seem to be gauging their parties when they are not.

I think developing some good will would go a long way, but that might be harder than completing a deal.

They are definitely the good cops, that lets GB and Fehr keep their egos in check...

If there is a deal to be made, it will be the # 2's that set it all up...