The CBA proposal that the NHL presented on Tuesday would have provided the players with 46% of revenues. That’s, as the Montreal Gazette put it, a $460 million improvement from the NHL’s initial offer when they asked the players take 43% of the pie.
As you probably already know, the talks ended up stalling after Friday’s negotiating session.
“Somebody needs to be in a position to offer or say something new,” said Gary Bettman. “And considering that we made such a large move on Tuesday, to have gotten the response that we got is disappointing.
“We’re not in a position to go back and offer more and negotiate against ourselves.”
The owners did make substantial concessions compared to their original offer, but Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Matt Carle argued that it’s really all about context.
”...if we’d absurdly asked for 71% of revenue in our first offer and then came down to 68%...make sense?” Carle tweeted.
It’s worth noting that under the expiring CBA, the players were getting 57% of hockey-related revenues, so both of the NHL’s proposals represented a substantial reduction from their perspective. Either way, for now we’re in limbo while we wait to see who will make the next move.
Related:
Reaching a new CBA is a negotiation, not an exercise in fairness
Video: Bettman, Fehr speak out after Friday’s talks
What they’re saying about Friday’s disappointing negotiating session
Dreger: Real negotiating won’t start until or around Sept. 10