BREAKING NEWS: NHLPA and the NHL to meet next week for negotiations

[Splaya]

NHL, union to resume negotiations for first time since September By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer December 2, 2004 AP - Dec 1, 6:48 pm EST More Photos NEW YORK (AP) -- The NHL accepted an invitation from the players' association on Thursday to return to the negotiating table in an effort to end the lockout that began nearly three months ago. In a letter sent to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday, players' association executive director Bob Goodenow proposed that the sides meet next week in Toronto and said the union is working on a new proposal. No official talks have occurred since Sept. 9, when the union made its last offer. The lockout reached its 78th day Thursday. ``We look forward to meeting with the NHL Players' Association next week,'' said Bill Daly, the league's chief legal officer. ``We are hopeful that the NHLPA's offer will be a meaningful effort to address the league's economic problems. When we receive the proposal, we will evaluate it closely and respond appropriately.'' The last offer by the NHLPA was a luxury tax-based deal that was rejected by the league, and the lockout began one week later. As of Thursday, 334 regular-season games, plus the 2005 All-Star game, have been wiped out. The offer to resume talks came just hours before the league's general managers prepared to get an update from Bettman during a dinner meeting in New York. The players' association said its new proposal should provide the basis for a new collective bargaining agreement. ADVERTISEMENT ``Almost three months have passed since the players made their last proposal and we have yet to receive a counteroffer from the league,'' Goodenow said in a statement. ``We have been working hard at other creative solutions and believe our new proposal will provide a basis to end the owners' lockout and resume NHL hockey.'' Bettman has said that a luxury tax won't work for the 30 NHL teams, which he claims are losing money at a pace that makes it impossible for the league to survive under the current system. He is seeking ``cost certainty'' for the clubs, which the union says is tantamount to a salary cap -- a solution it refuses to accept. The league has been operating under the same collective bargaining agreement since 1995, when the last lockout -- that lasted 103 days -- ended and a truncated 48-game schedule was held. That deal was extended twice. Bettman said teams combined to lose more than $1.8 billion over 10 years, and that management will not agree to a labor deal without a defined relationship between revenue and salaries. Owners claim teams lost $273 million in 2002-03 and $224 million last season. An economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players get 76 percent of all league revenues -- far more than the percentage for the other major team sports. The players' association has challenged many of the league's financial findings.

Hopefully this will end the lockout