NFL Lockout 2012

NFL Lockout 2012

It’s official! The NHL lockout 2012 officially began at 12:01 am today making this the fourth shutdown for the NHL since 1992

Commissioner Gary Bettman wasn’t joking and followed through when he said he would lock out the players if there was no new agreement in place.

Bill Daly, the Deputy Commissioner of the NHL confirmed the shutdown was effective at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

According to Fox Sports, the union said it has no comment.

No formal talks have been scheduled for today, day 1 of the NHL lockout 2012. which is not a good sign.

Hopefully the lockout will not wipe out the entire season like the most recent lockout did in 2004-05.

Of course the issue is money, to the tune of $3.3 billion, and how to distribute it.

The owners want to decrease the percentage of related hockey revenue that goes to players, and the the union wants a guarantee that players annually will receive at least the same $1.8 billion in salaries paid out last season.

The players are concerned that management hasn’t addressed the league’s financial problems by reevaluating the  revenue-sharing formula.

There were large concessions made in order to reach a deal during the last lock out and apparently the union doesn’t think it should have to make more this time around  especially after record financial growth.

Will the two sides come to a happy medium before the season is over?

The NHL seems like they want to and issued a statement addressed directly to hockey fans on their website.

NHL statement regarding the 2012 lockout

Despite the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the National Hockey League has been, and remains, committed to negotiating around the clock to reach a new CBA that is fair to the Players and to the 30 NHL teams.

Thanks to the conditions fostered by seven seasons under the previous CBA, competitive balance has created arguably the most meaningful regular season in pro sports; a different team has won the Stanley Cup every year; fans and sponsors have agreed the game is at its best, and the League has generated remarkable growth and momentum. While our last CBA negotiation resulted in a seismic change in the League’s economic system, and produced corresponding on-ice benefits, our current negotiation is focused on a fairer and more sustainable division of revenues with the Players — as well as other necessary adjustments consistent with the objectives of the economic system we developed jointly with the NHL Players’ Association seven years ago. Those adjustments are attainable through sensible, focused negotiation — not through rhetoric.

This is a time of year for all attention to be focused on the ice, not on a meeting room. The League, the Clubs and the Players all have a stake in resolving our bargaining issues appropriately and getting the puck dropped as soon as possible. We owe it to each other, to the game and, most of all, to the fans.

How do you think it will turn out.  Are you holding out hope that the NHL lockout will be resolved quickly?

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