NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman declared that the season will
be postponed if a new collective bargaining agreement with the
NHLPA is not in place when the regular season is scheduled to
start on October 1.  Although he refused to label the move a
lockout, Bettman insisted that NHL owners will not allow any
games to be played without an agreement.  Bettman: "The absence
of a collective bargaining agreement leaves us no choice."
Bettman confirmed he and NHLPA Exec Dir Bob Goodenow will meet in
Toronto on Monday and said that a settlement then "won't be
impossible" (Mult., 9/23).
     FACE-OFF: Bettman admitted that the announcement of a
possible postponement was due to the lack of progress in
negotiations with Goodenow:  "At some point, if this goes too
long, we will have to look at shortening the season or do other
things. ... If we work very hard, there is enough time to make a
deal.  It will be difficult, it will be arduous but it will not
be impossible.  But as time slips away, it gets harder and
harder."  Bettman added: "What I've learned from baseball is that
you can turn a season into a complete disaster if you open one
without a collective agreement" (THE DAILY).  Sources said that
Bettman was prepared to "pull the plug" on training camps last
Monday, but decided to give negotiations more time (Alan Adams,
VANCOUVER SUN, 9/23).  Bettman contended that a full season could
still be played even if a postponement occurs (David Shoalts,
Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 9/23).
     RESPONSE:  Goodenow "made it clear" the players consider
Bettman's declaration a lockout and said that the action is
"strictly a pressure play" to scare the players into making
concessions:  "The lockout or postponement will not move the
players or affect the players."  Goodenow reiterated that the
players have no intention of striking: "I have reminded the
league that we played all last season without a contract and we
had playoffs" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/22).  Stephen Brunt writes, "For
Bob Goodenow and company, this is going to a tough one to win"
(GLOBE & MAIL, 9/23).
     CAN SETTLEMENT BE FOUND?  Bettman on the NHLPA offer: "I
actually think the fact they came to the table and proposed a tax
was constructive.  If I had to characterize the differences, they
have called our tax a luxury tax; they have called their own tax
a nuisance tax.  The issue is going to be whether or not we can
bridge that gap and get to a tax that is neither a luxury nor a
nuisance that we can both live with" (Al Strachan, TORONTO SUN,
9/22).  Bettman added: "The system we have now needs to be
modified, sometimes drastically" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 9/22).
     LONG WORK STOPPAGE SEEN:  ESPN's Al Morganti: "If it lasts
much past a week or two, I'd say you're looking at a long one"
("SportsCenter," ESPN, 9/22).  Wayne Gretzky: "I don't believe
we're going to be playing hockey; I believe there's going to a
three- or four-month work stoppage"  (CP/OTTAWA CITIZEN, 9/23).
Whalers Player Rep Pat Verbeek: "They're trying to break the
players.  They're going to go as long as they can" (HARTFORD
COURANT, 9/23).  Flyers Player Rep Mark Recchi: "It might take a
couple of weeks, but it's not going to get done in nine days"
(PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 9/23).  The  Sharks' Gaetan Duchense: "I
can't see something resolved in eight or nine days ... they're
not even close" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/23).
     EXIT VISAS IMMINENT?  There is speculation that several NHL
players will choose to play in the IHL or for European clubs
(Everson & Botte, N.Y. POST, 9/23).
     CENTER OF THE STORM:  In Toronto, Al Strachacan: "Let's face
it, Bettman wants a battle" (TORONTO SUN, 9/22).  In Boston, Bob
Ryan writes Bettman's "militancy may actually be frightening a
few of his owners, that Bettman is actually a bit ahead of that
curve" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/22).  In Vancouver, Jim Taylor writes if
Bettman does not recognize the "inherent dangers of Hockey Night
in July," he is "blind, deaf and terminally oblivious" (VANCOUVER
PROVINCE, 9/23).  In St. Louis, Jeff Gordon writes that a lockout
will occur because the "owners have been too stupid to meet
budgets and too selfish to share revenues with each other" (ST.
LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 9/23).  In New York, Steve Jacobson writes,
"What a way for hockey to break out of the igloo of the Frozen
North and join the main games!" (N.Y. NEWSDAY, 9/23).  Brett Hull
labeled Bettman a "union buster": "This has been his plan since
Day One. ... He doesn't care about the game at all."  Blues'
Brendan Shanahan on Bettman's announcement of a "postponement,"
rather than a lockout: "He's the kind of guy who'd say, 'It's not
a wheel, it's's a round thing that spins around'" (ST. LOUIS
POST-DISPATCH, 9/23).

     Yesterday's hearing on baseball's antitrust exemption before
the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Economic and
Commercial Law "represented the unofficial start of what's widely
expected to be an off-season of bickering."  While House
Judiciary Chair Jack Brooks (D-TX) doubted that any action could
be taken this year, baseball "may not be off the hook, especially
if the labor dispute lingers" (Rick Alm, DALLAS MORNING NEWS,
9/23).  Brooks prefaced the hearing by releasing a statement
indicating his support for repealing the exemption.  He had
previously reserved judgment on this issue (THE DAILY).
     OWNER-BASHING:  "If major league baseball owners have
friends in Congress, they weren't in room 2141 of the Rayburn
Building yesterday" (Thom Lovero, WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/23).
Brooks "wanted the owners in attendance to know he means
business" (Brad Snyder, Baltimore SUN, 9/23).  "The players'
fervor paled in comparison to what they found to already exist on
Capitol Hill:  a blanket indictment of the exemption by many
legislators angered by baseball's incessant labor wars" (Claire
Smith, N.Y. TIMES, 9/23).  "The owners couldn't give a single
reason why they deserve this break" (George Vecsey, N.Y. TIMES,
9/23).  NBC's Bob Costas:  "The mood of lawmakers has changed to
one of general disgust with the state of the game and an apparent
willingness to take away at least part of the curious anti-trust
exemption" ("Nightly News," 9/22).
     FROM CONGRESS:  Rep. Mike Synar (D-OK): "The owners really
did not make a strong case, I believe, in why they deserve this
special status. ... I am convinced that if there is a chance to
vote on the floors of the Senate or the House that this
legislation would pass overwhelmingly on the simple basis of
fairness" ("Business Insiders," CNBC, 9/22). More from Synar:
"The Senate really holds the key.  If [Sen. Howard] Metzenbaum is
able to push something through, we can get something done this
year" (Mark Maske, WASHINGTON POST, 9/23).  Metzenbaum, whose
Senate bill was blocked by a procedural motion last week, will
try to attach it to another bill as an amendment.  Metzenbaum:
"If I get a chance, you can bet your sweet life I'll try it"
(Helyar & Calmes, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/23).  Brooks said if a
Senate bill were to pass, "I would be very open to allowing it to
proceed directly to the President" (THE DAILY).
     FROM THE OWNERS:  Acting MLB Commissioner Bud Selig
"downplayed the significance" of Brook's opposition:  "I really
believe this will not be settled in the halls of Congress.  I
truly believe the only way to settle this is at the bargaining
table" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/23).  Rockies Owner Jerry McMorris:
"I hate to see the old system tampered with while we're in the
middle of labor negotiations" ("Business Insiders," CNBC, 9/22).
Red Sox Owner John Harrington:  "The solution is at the
bargaining table" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 9/22).  Selig, on the
choice between a strike and litigation:  "That's like asking
whether you want to have a problem with your pancreas or a
problem with your liver" (Colin Miner, N.Y. POST, 9/23).
     FROM THE PLAYERS:  The Dodgers' Orel Hershiser: "If this
bill is passed, it will bring baseball back.  It is a promise, we
will return to the field.  Right now, without this bill, we only
have two options:  We can surrender or we can strike.  This bill
will give us a third option.  It will allow us to play baseball,
and let our attorneys fight it out in court" (mult., 9/23).
Agent Tom Reich:  "We had salary caps once before from the owners
in '85.  It was called collusion. ... [The owners] were found
guilty of the biggest conspiracy in the history of sports three
times. They don't deserve to have an exemption A -- and, B, it
isn't fair" ("Business Insiders," CNBC, 9/22).

     The legal "power struggle" between the NBA and the NBPA
"moved into a federal appeals court" yesterday, where the union
sought to reverse a lower court ruling that found that the salary
cap, college draft and right of first refusal signing system "do
not violate antitrust law."  The NBPA contends, after the
collective bargaining agreement (C.B.A.) expired June 24, the
three disputed policies "fell out of the jurisdiction" of federal
labor law and became provisions "restricting the free-market
opportunities of players from the day they are drafted to when
they retire."  In July, the NBPA "failed to persuade" a U.S.
District Court that the end of the C.B.A. "extinguished its
collective bargaining relationship" with the NBA.  After the
hearing, NBA Commissioner David Stern: "We expect to prevail in
this case.  We've told the players we have to make a deal"
(Richard Sandomir, N.Y. TIMES, 9/23).  The NBA will announce
today or early next week that the cap for the upcoming season is
$15.9M per team, not the anticipated $16.3M -- a 6% increase from
'93-94 (WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/23).

     A tentative agreement was reached yesterday between the NFL
and its game officials, "averting a strike that was scheduled for
next month."  According to sources familiar with the
negotiations, the executive committee of the officials' new union
voted 10-0 late Wednesday night to agree to a 7-year deal that
will increase game fees 50-90% in the first year.  Minimum yearly
income will be doubled, and in some cases, tripled; payments to
the officials' pension will increase 300%; and for the first
time, game officials will receive a one-time severance payment
equivalent to their salaries in their final year of service
(David Aldridge, WASHINGTON POST, 9/23).

     Two days before the Saints and 49ers meet, "guys are talking
trash -- only this time it's not just the players."  In one of
the "more unusual pregame exchanges," Saints owner Tom Benson and
49ers President Carmen Policy "traded long-distance fire" over
the signing of Deion Sanders.  Benson accused the 49ers of acting
improperly in signing Sanders: "This is a farce.  The New Orleans
Saints live by the book, and everyone else should live by the
book, including the San Francisco 49ers.  What kind of Mickey
Mouse organization are they running out there?"  Policy suggested
that Benson might want to "brush up on his facts, especially
since the league approved Sanders' contract this week": "Keeping
in mind that we are under surveillance 24 hours a day, and the
authorities in New York have us watched, are following us and
probably [are] tapping our phones.  If you're going to commit a
crime, these are not the most ideal circumstances under which to
plot."  At issue was the revelation that Sanders' contract
includes a $5M option that the club can exercise at its
discretion.  To do so, the 49ers would have to pay Sanders $3M by
February 28 -- "improbable, if not impossible, under the
constraints" of the salary cap (Clark Judge, SAN JOSE MERCURY
NEWS, 9/23).

     The MLBPA filed default notices claiming that 18 players
were "improperly deprived" of $1M in pay when they were recalled
in the weeks before the strike began.  If arbitrator George
Nicolau "finds that any of their clubs did default by putting
them on strike so they didn't have to pay them, he could declare
them free agents.  In that case, the clubs could not correct the
default.  Rather than face the risk of losing the players, clubs
may pay them by Oct. 2, then file grievances of their own to try
to recover the money."  MLB labor relations attorney John
Westhoff:  "We will defend all the grievances on the basis that
the clubs have the right to minimize their costs during a strike.
... [But] it will be up to each individual club to decide if they
want to cure the default that was filed for each player" (Murray
Chass, N.Y. TIMES, 9/23).