The forecast didn't seem encouraging in the first place.
Now, the storm clouds are on the horizon, and the warnings are out.NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman emerged from a two-hour labor meeting in New York Thursday in agreement on one thing: a wide disparity on the key issue of this collective bargainingnegotiation- revenue-sharing.
Bettman also made clear that when the current deal expires five weeks from Saturday (September 15th), there will be a lockout if no deal has been reached. Fehr had previously suggested that if talks are making reasonable progress at that time, he'd have no problem with training camps and the preseason opening while negotiations continued. Bettman claims the Players Association has known that was his stance the entire time.Management's made the lone proposal in this negotiation, back on July 13. It included sweeping changes to the current deal which has resulted in the league enjoying unprecedented income. The union was not expected to react well to it, but had put on a positive front until Fehr's comments Thursday, calling the sides having a "meaningful gulf" on revenue-sharing. Under the old deal, players received 57 percent of hockey-related revenues, by far the most of the four major sports. The owners' first proposal cut it it 46 percent - a 450 million swing of money shifting from one side to the other.The NHLPA is expected to submit its first proposal Tuesday. The line has been drawn by Bettman, under whom the league has gone in lockout mode twice. It's obvious the pace of negotiations will at least have to pick up if the NHL is to avoid a third lockout in 18 years.