It is time Gary Bettman announced a drop-dead-date.
It should go something like this...
I am here to announce, if a new collective bargaining agreement is not signed and ratified by the Board of Governors and NHLPA by February xx, I will have no other choice than to cancel the season.
If the season is cancelled, I am compelled to advise the players, a deal made yesterday will be better than the deal offered tomorrow.
We are offering a six year term that can be re-opened by the NHLPA after the fourth season. We are offering the players a payroll range of $32-42 million per team with a luxury tax threshold at $37 million. A tax of 50 cents on the dollar over the threshold will go into the revenue-sharing pool.
We are offering guaranteed contracts in their current form and though we would appreciate the NHLPA to include the 24% rollback in an agreement, we can not allow it to hold up negotiations.
We are offering a 50-50 split in profits over $115 million if the NHL pays less than 54% of the revenues toward player costs.
We are offering to create a jointly appointed audit system to control team financial reports and penalties for teams who misrepresent the mandatory figures.
We are offering to create a jointly appointed committee to market the game on and off the ice. To help improve game rules to better entertain the games and make the game more enjoyable and safe to play on the ice
We are offering to pay 53% of all regular season and playoff revenues for this season to the players.
We are offering to revise the entry-level contract to enable teams to reward established, successful players. A four year contract capped at a base salary of $850k, $250k signing bonus, and $850k league mandate performance bonus levels is more than fair for a player entering the league. The reduction will allow teams to pay more established veterans closer to the league's average salary of $1.3 million or more.
We are offering to keep arbitration but allow teams to have the same rights as players. The inflationary results of the expired CBA have proven to be an unfair tool for the NHLPA to hold over teams who are trying to properly run their business.
We are offering a tiered qualifying offer system that will not reduce the prior season salary of any player being paid less than $850k. Players between $850,000 and $1.3 million will receive 90%, 80% between $1.3-3 million and 75% over $3 million.
We are offering to reduce unrestricted free agency to any player 30 years of age or older and having served his ELC. Any player who has completed 8 contract seasons at the age of 28 or older can file for unrestricted free agency after the 2006-2007 season.
We are also increasing the minimum salary requirement to $300,000.
If the players agree to the above offer, the owners have agreed to create a revenue-sharing system that will require all 30 owners to share revenues in the regular season and playoffs to pay between $150-200 million into the pool.
This is our best and final offer before the season is cancelled and we feel 100% in our belief that if it does not lead to an agreement, we have done everything in our power to give the players what they have asked over the last few months.
I will refrain from anwering any questions until February xx, at that point if no agreement is in place, I will be more than willing to answer all your questions, until then the clock is ticking and everyone has work to do.
Thank you
