Hockey fans are disappointed as more of the season slips away because of money.
All games scheduled on and before December 14th have been cancelled as the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Player’s Association try to come to a compromise on salary and other working conditions, also known as a Collective Bargaining Agreement.
According to NHL official website, the NHL proposed a new CBA that the NHLPA has refused to sign until several more issues have been sorted out. The main issue is a 50-50 split of revenue between the managers and players, meaning the total salaries for each team would be reduced by around 1.8 million.
However, some are questioning whether the time-consuming negotiations are worth it. The NHLPA is losing around 8 to 10 million a day due to the game cancellations.
Junior Erika Thomas puts the situation simply.
“It doesn’t make sense to spend all this time arguing over money, waste an entire season, and still lose more money,” said Thomas.
Both sides met several times over the past two months and called in the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to better negotiate the situation. They met with the two mediators, Deputy Director Scot Beckenbaugh and Director of Mediation Services John Sweeney on Wednesday.
The NHL website declared mediation ended after two days and that several owners and players would meet to further discuss the issues on Tuesday, December 4.
As the negotiation drags on, hockey fans are becoming increasingly agitated.
Physical Education teacher Tony Sorice had a lot to lose during hockey season.
“During the winter, the television was my domain,” explained Sorice. “Now, without the hockey season, my wife has me watching CSI…I even had to watch UFC for a few seconds the other day. It’s really disappointing.”
Technology Ed. teacher Carol Martin has a personal reason for missing the season too. She became a Pittsburgh Penguins fan after her daughter started attending the University of Pittsburgh.
“We started going to Bill Batemans together to watch the hockey games; she even got us tickets for a Fliers-Penguins game, and it was awesome,” said Martin.
Others, like Senior Paul Young, think the argument is distracting the league from what’s important.
Young said, “if professionals think they don’t get [paid] enough money to do what they love, then…they need to get over it.”
Sources:
NHL.com
“NHL talks on contract issues”-USA Today
