As the NHL reaches its midseason point, culminating with Sunday's All-Star Game, there's no progress to report on its most pressing issue: the looming possibility of a work stoppage. There's also little expectation that either side is going to budge before Sept. 15, when the current collective-bargaining agreement expires.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow met last month in New York and managed to discuss every league-union issue except a new contract, working their way around the most obvious topic at hand.
"We're in regular communication with the union," Bettman said. "If the union decides it's now time to turn substantive and get past the rhetoric, we're ready to go."
By that he means consider a system that would tie salaries to revenue, as opposed to the plan of luxury tax and revenue sharing proposed by the union.
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| "There’s plenty of time. I think for being eight months out we’re in a fairly sensible place." |
| Gary Bettman,NHL commissioner |
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Bettman said there's no real hurry. "There's plenty of time," he said. "I think for being eight months out we're in a fairly sensible place because there's been a lot of discussion. And while we don't agree on certain issues, there's no lack of certainty about the other's position, and that's part of the collective-bargaining process."
Goodenow was not available for comment.
When the league's board of governors convenes Saturday in Minnesota, members will be discussing how to prepare for a lockout — what to do about season-ticket sales next summer, or about their rosters and payrolls now.
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| Bettman |
Bettman says it's business as usual, and teams have to maintain that mind-set. But he acknowledges that clubs also have to prepare themselves for a new economic system.
"Clubs are mindful of the fact there needs to be a change and they need to make sure they're focused on what position they'll be in when there's an opportunity to make a change," he said.
While it's hard to think about what comes next in a sport where no one knows if there'll even be games a year from now, there is a strange sense of opportunity in NHL circles, a feeling that a juncture has been reached where many of the league's most daunting problems are about to be flushed out, and that better times lie ahead.
Rules changes
The NHL has long maintained that the quality of the modern hockey game is not an issue, with Bettman fending off a chorus of questions that suggested otherwise at a press conference during last year's Stanley Cup Finals.
But with scoring down to five goals per game, the lowest in the lifetime of most NHL players, the league is exploring ways to improve the game's entertainment value. At the end of the season, the league will bring together a panel of experts, ranging from general managers to hockey writers, and examine ways to improve the product.
The league also has asked its primary developmental league, the American Hockey League, to experiment with wider lines on the ice, an adjustment that gives players more room to maneuver in certain areas.
Clubs and critics alike have applauded the league's move to put the game under the microscope.
"We think the committee is great," said Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment President Richard Peddie, who oversees both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors. "I come from more of a basketball background, and I'd like to see more scoring. One-nothing games can be just as exciting as 7-4 ones, but a lot of low-scoring games are not as exciting as I'd like them to be."
Bettman gives little ground on the issue, saying the purpose of the committee is to "put the debate behind us." But he agrees that if there are ways to bring more offense back into the game, they are worth exploring. "My own view is the balance has tipped a little too far in favor of defense," he said. "So without fundamentally changing this great game, we have to look for ways to reorder the balance."
Jagr trade
Speaking of offense, it would be crazy not to trade for the NHL's most gifted offensive player when his current team is willing to pick up $20 million of his salary and only wants a mid-level player in return, right?
Then again, the New York Rangers have had little luck with similar moves, missing the playoffs for six straight seasons despite trading or signing veteran stars such as Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, Theoren Fleury and Bobby Holik, to name just a few, and having the highest payroll in the league over that span.
And Albert Einstein described insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
The Rangers made yet another high-priced acquisition two Fridays ago when they traded for Washington Capitals right wing Jaromir Jagr, the league's highest-paid player at $11 million a year. The Capitals will pick up $20 million of his salary over the course of his contract, which includes another four full seasons.
On paper the trade is a steal for the Rangers, who gave up only underachieving forward Anson Carter in return. It was hailed by some as the move that could finally bring the team back to the playoffs. But skeptics weighed in that it did not address the club's most immediate problems: chemistry and team defense.
Still, no one was surprised that Jagr ended up with the Rangers.
"You have to believe the natural place for Jaromir to go was New York," said J.P. Barry, Jagr's agent at IMG. Barry said talks between the clubs dated back to last summer, and the Capitals were basically waiting for the Rangers to give the final OK.
Regardless of its immediate impact on the club, the trade could make it even more difficult for the Rangers to comply with whatever sort of collective-bargaining agreement the league and union eventually settle on. The team has 14 players signed to multiyear contracts and is on the hook for nearly $70 million in salaries for next season, about $25 million more than the next highest club, Dallas.
While no one knows exactly what the next collective-bargaining agreement will look like, there is near certainty that the Rangers will have to unload a good chunk of their roster to be compliant, or, in the best-case scenario, face prohibitive fines. The union already has offered to accept a luxury tax component in a new deal, while the league has asked for a system that would limit the average team payroll to $31 million, barely one-third where the Rangers are now.
The pressure also is bearing down on the Capitals, who reportedly are losing $20 million a year and are mired in last place in the Southeast conference.
Two days after the Jagr trade, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis — among the most accessible and community-minded owners in all of sports — got into a physical altercation with a fan at the MCI Center. He was fined $100,000 and suspended for one week by the league.
All-Star Weekend
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| The energy of the Minnesota Wild’s unlikely trip to the conference finals is still in the frigid air. |
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If the NHL needs a jolt of positive energy, there's no better place to look than Minnesota. The league is sure to get a warm All-Star greeting in the Twin Cities, among its strongest markets.
The host Minnesota Wild play to a perennially sold-out house at the Xcel Energy Center, and the glow of its unlikely charge to the conference finals last spring is still in the frigid Northern air.
The Stanley Cup will arrive in St. Paul via snowmobile, following a long journey from tiny Eveleth, Minn., where the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame is located.
"We're trying to create some unique things that are different and satisfy the needs of that marketplace," said NHL Enterprises President Ed Horne.
He said interest in the NHL FANtasy interactive theme park is as strong as anything he's ever seen. The record attendance was set three years ago in Denver, at 86,000.
The league is promoting the All-Star Game through a branded car in the Bud Shootout NASCAR race, staged on Saturday.
Anticipating major demand for all All-Star-related events, the league will hold a ticketed practice for only the third time ever.
Also on hand will be several recording artists and Hollywood stars.
"It's all part of a strategic approach to make ourselves more culturally relevant," Horne said.
This year Canadian rockers (and Bettman-professed favorite) the Barenaked Ladies will appear between periods at the All-Star Game and then play a private show for NHL guests following the game. (Last year the Goo-Goo Dolls and Sheryl Crow were on hand.)
Figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi taped an NHL promotion spot that will air leading up to the playoffs. Already appearing in NHL spots or marketing efforts are Shania Twain, Denis Leary, Kiefer Sutherland, Whoopie Goldberg and Jim Belushi.
Hockey products or themes also have popped up in television shows from "Friends" to "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
Television talks
It will be hard to improve cultural relevance without a home on broadcast television. While there has indeed been a flight toward cable by many sports properties, all the major ones still have substantial broadcast presence.
Now, the NHL faces the possibility that it won't have a national over-the-air outlet next season (see "Latest ESPN offer leaves NHL off broadcast TV").
Under the current five-year, $600 million deal, ESPN buys time on ABC for weekend games and the Stanley Cup Finals. Sources say that ESPN has offered a scaled-back deal that not only would reduce the number of games on ESPN and ESPN2, but do away with the ABC time-buy completely.
Getting a network deal for the league was one of Bettman's first great accomplishments, landing the NHL on Fox in 1995 and then on ABC starting in 1999.
The league did buy time on ABC prior to landing with Fox, always a possibility again if it can't get a rights fee from a network this time around.
Bettman has long downplayed the NHL's shrinking ratings, and boldly predicted last summer that the next U.S. contract would match the value of the current deal. But it appears the numbers game has caught up with the league.
Regular-season ratings dipped from a 1.4 at the start of the deal to a 1.1 last season. They averaged a 2.1 during Fox's first year with NHL rights. On the cable side, both ESPN and ESPN2 have been in steady decline, and this season is no different. Through six games, ESPN is down 10 percent to a 0.53, compared with the same point last year, and ESPN2 is off a hair to a 0.21.
With the labor uncertainty clouding the television talks, and the NHL not eager to sign off on ESPN's bare-bones offer, sources say the sides will likely settle on a short-term contract that will serve as a stopgap until the league's future is clearer, and hopefully brighter.
Collective bargaining
Ultimately, everything in the NHL comes back to the labor question.
There have been no substantive discussions between the league and the players' association since the sides traded proposals on Oct. 1. Although both say they're ready to negotiate, they privately admit that there's little to talk about right now, as the two are so far apart philosophically that it's unlikely any progress will be made at the earliest until right before the current agreement expires.
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| Goodenow |
Bettman and Goodenow met at league headquarters in New York on Jan. 13, then dined together and watched a Rangers game from an otherwise empty luxury suite. But nothing emerged.
The league remains steadfast that it needs a system that links salaries to revenue. The proposal it made to the union calls for teams to have an average payroll of $31 million, although it would allow some clubs to spend more as long as the difference was made up by lower-spending clubs or a giveback to owners at the end of the season.
The union wants no part of any system that would cap total salaries. Instead, it has proposed a 5 percent rollback on salaries, along with a luxury tax and revenue-sharing system.
The two sides have been sniping at each other during the last few months, with the union questioning financial data that the league released to the media.
But in the end, their differences come down to two very disparate approaches to how the system should work, with both unequivocally saying they won't consider the other's idea.
