A matter of trust: a quick fix for the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement might seem simple, but the players, led by Bob Goodenow, are wary of the owners' stance.(Special report: the NHL's labor woes)

Publication: Hockey Digest

Publication Date: 01-SEP-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Century Publishing

FOR ALL ITS INTRICACIES, THE issue that could derail the 2004-05 NHL season would appear to be strikingly simple at its core.

There is an enormous pile of money on a table, high enough to touch the ceiling. Seated on one side are NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the owners who employ him. Opposite them are NHL Players Association chief executive Bob Goodenow and the union he represents. all concerned agree that the money should be divided equitably, with the owners making a reasonable profit and the players compensated properly as the lifeblood of the game.

Fairly elementary stuff, right?

One would think so.

Somebody takes a hand, sticks it in the middle of the pile and shoves half to one side, half to the other. Everyone goes home happy, the Sept. 15 expiration date for the Collective Bargaining Agreement is rendered moot, the inevitable owners' lockout averted. Not a single faceoff missed, not a single fan miffed.

This all might actually happen, too, except that the core issue is not what it appears to be. It is not the separation of money. Rather, it is an intense distrust.

The players do not accept any of the owners' two primary positions related to the CBA talks:

* They do not accept that the NHL collected 82 billion in revenue in 2002-03, the last full season for which the league conducted an audit That figure, if accurate, would mean that 75% of all money went toward player salaries. In the NBA, the most comparable professional sport, players take 58% of all revenue while individual teams operate under a salary cap. Bettman points to an audit conducted by a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman that showed teams lost a combined $273 million in 2002-03 and that 19 of the 30 teams lost money. Goodenow has dismissed that audit because the NHL finances it and because the NHLPA did not participate in the research.

* They do not accept that there is a need for a salary cap, even though the NFL and NBA have enjoyed dented popularity...

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