Tentative deal to end NHL lockout

NEW YORK (AFP) –

A Pittsburgh Penguins fan at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 3, 2012. The National Hockey League and players have reached a tentative deal to end their lockout and salvage the season, US media reports said Sunday.

The NHL and players have reached agreement on a “framework” of a deal to end their lockout and salvage the season, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Sunday.

The announcement came after a marathon 16-hour negotiating session that included both Bettman and NHL Players’ Association chief Don Fehr that started on Saturday and spilled over into Sunday.

“Don Fehr and I are here to tell you that we have reached an agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement, the details of which need to be put to paper,” Bettman said.

“We have to dot a lot of I’s and cross a lot of T’s. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the basic framework has been agreed upon. We have to go through a ratification process and the Board of Governors has to approve it from the league side and, obviously, the players have to approve it as well.”

With a deal, the NHL can avoid losing an entire season for the second time in its history. All of the 2004-05 campaign was lost to a similar bitter battle over financial issues.

Bettman had pinpointed January 19 as the essential start date to save a shortened season. On Sunday, with a written agreement still to be drafted, he said he could not yet offer information about a schedule.

“We will be back to you very shortly, hopefully, later today with more information in that regard,” he said.

The league has cancelled 625 games — up to January 14 — just over half the planned schedule that was to have started in October.

“Any process we have in a system like this is difficult,” Fehr said. “It can be long.”

The new agreement is reported to be for 10 years, with a mutual opt-out clause after eight years.

According to various media reports, the players’ share of hockey-related revenue — a sharply contested issue — will drop from the 57 percent they received under the prior contract to a 50-50 split.

The salary cap for the upcoming season will also reportedly be $70.2 million, falling to $64.3 million for the 2013-14 season.

The two sides had met separately with federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh on Friday, and Beckenbaugh had joined them for the face-to-face meetings on Saturday that finally yielded the breakthrough.

The NHL and its Players’ Association had met separately with a federal mediator throughout the day Friday and into the evening. On Saturday afternoon, the two sides met face-to-face with Beckenbaugh as they worked toward a new labor deal.

Beckenbaugh, the Deputy Director for Mediation Services of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, could be considered the savior for the talks and new CBA.

George H. Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, issued a statement on the tentative accord, which not only will allow the league to get back on the ice but also will avert the potential dissolution of the union and messy legal action.

“On behalf of the FMCS, I want to extend our congratulations to both parties for their important accomplishment,” Cohen said.

“The negotiated agreement represents the successful culmination of a long and difficult road in which the parties ultimately were able to reach mutually acceptable solutions to a wide variety of contentious subjects of bargaining.

“Of course, the agreement will pave the way for the professional players to return to the ice and for the owners to resume their business operations.

“But the good news extends beyond the parties directly involved; fans throughout North America will have the opportunity to return to a favorite pastime and thousands of working men and women and small businesses will no longer be deprived of their livelihoods,” Cohen said, singling out his colleague Beckenbaugh for his “extraordinary contribution” to the process.