NHL, NHLPA Turn To Mediator
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George Cohen has taken over control of the negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA, according to a release on Monday.
UPDATE: Here’s a link to the NHLPA statement on the move to use mediation.
Here is the statement from FMCS:
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George H. Cohen issued the following statement today on the ongoing labor negotiations between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association:
“I have had separate, informal discussions with the key representatives of the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association during the course of their negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement. At the invitation of the FMCS, and with the agreement of both parties, the ongoing negotiations will now be conducted under our auspices. I have assigned Deputy Director Scot L. Beckenbaugh, Director of Mediation Services John Sweeney, and Commissioner Guy Serota to serve as the mediators.”
“Due to the extreme sensitivity of these negotiations and consistent with the FMCS’s long-standing practice, the Agency will refrain from any public comment concerning the future schedule and/or the status of the negotiations until further notice.”
ABOUT F*$(&ING TIME!
I’ve always thought this was the best route to go, but I am still surprised it actually happened. Hope it works.
I think with mediation finally involved hopefully the Owners get challenged to open up their books and the HRR gets changed to include all revenues so that a 50-50 split is truly 50-50.
There has been a lot written lately about the Florida Panthers and how they don’t lose money as many believe. The Panthers are owned by Sunrise Sports & Entertainment and SSE also owns the entity that runs the arena. SSE turned profits of 100 mill from 1998-2012. They even admit that the Panthers make their entertainment business possible and have partnered with a Las Vegas Gaming Company to build a Casino around the arena and expand into real-estate. All of this is made possible by the Panthers.
Just like Bud Selig used to cook the books when he owned the Brewers I think a lot of these NHL Owners are doing the same. I find it amusing that every team that loses money loses roughly 3-7 mill. All of the Owners should be forced to open their books and HRR should include all revenues generated by the Organization.
If you want to read about the Panthers losing money while, er uh, making money The Cult Of Hockey, Defending Big G and Pro Hockey Talk all have something on it
This is good news. I think we have a 10 day window where this can get done. Otherwise, the season is going to be history with Bettman and Fehr to pay with their jobs. No loss there…
Let the NHL die!! Let the players go play in Europe and the AHL until next year. In the mean time, let some smart, articulate, well connected ex-players(are you listening Gretzky and Mario) get a group of financial people together and form a real pro hockey league. Where is the WHA when we need it!!
Mark Recchi is right, the players should sign any deal that the owners want. It doesn’t matter. The owners are going to find a way to circumvent any contract and they’ll find any loop hole to sign the super star players. And why? Because the owners want to win. They did it with the last “salary cap” contract. The owners got the salary cap and then found ways to screw it up. They make these rules in the contract and then break them in order to sign the best players. The owners are ruining this game!!
I’ll watch minor league hockey and junior “B” hockey until somebody starts up a pro hockey league that is good for the fans!!
Anyone remember the last time mediators got involved?? See ya in September :/