sharon_orn
Member
The NHL has been saying the upcoming season would begin on Jan. 1. It's been saying it for months. But with that date fast approaching and the calendar page now turned to the final month of 2020, is that even plausible? On Wednesday, speaking at the Sports Busine s Journal's Jason Garrison Jersey "Dealmakers in Sports" panel, commi sioner Gary Bettmansounded hopeful but cautious. "That is a work in progre s influenced largely by what we're hearing from the medical experts," . "COVID is going through a second wave, which could be worse than the first wave, and between Thanksgiving and the aftermath and what they think is going to happen for Christmas and the aftermath, we are taking our time and making sure that as we look for ways to move forward we're focused on health and safety and doing the right thing." Well, the NHL can't take it's time for too long if it wants to hit that target date. The majority of players will have to travel back to their base city and by law would have to quarantine up to 14 days in some locations such as Canada. Add in the expectation of a two-week training camp for all 31 teams andextra time to prepare for the teams who were not in the summer bubble, and Tomas Nosek Kids Jersey the window is small. Aside from the second wave that could impact the schedule, the other elephant in the room is the i sue that has arisen in the past couple of weeks between the NHL and NHL Players' A sociation. The two sides agreed to an extension ofthe CBA back in July and now the NHL is asking for some tweaks. "We've been absolutely unequivocal with the players that we're not trying to renegotiate," Bettman said, , adding that it's more about avoiding "stre ses on the system." Why would there be stre ses on the system? It boils down to hockey-related revenue and the split between the players and the league and, with everything going on and the lack of gate revenue,the players will owe more than "anyone imagined," Bettman said. MORE: "Under our deal, and the one we've had for more than a decade with the players' a sociation, whatever the revenues are the players only get 50 percent," Bettman said."And if we overpay them and they don't pay us back in the short term, they have to pay us back over time. "There will be stre ses on the system and we've had discu sions about what those stre ses are and how they might be dealt with, but we're not trying to say 'you must do X, Y, and Z.' We're trying to look for ways to continue to work together. "I know it's being portrayed as something else and it's unfortunate and it's inaccurate because at the end of the day if the system gets stre sed, it's going to be stre sed for both of us." Here Jake Bischoff Men Jersey is Gary Bettman in full on why he doesn't view the NHL's recent pitch to the NHLPA as a renegotiation of the previously agreed to MOU. Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) the NHL has asked for changes to escrow and deferred payments for the upcoming season. Needle s to say, the players and their agents are not pleased. Octagon-Hockey's Allan Walsh, who represents Colin Miller Women Jersey players including the Golden Knights' Marc-Andre Fleury, took aim at Bettman's comments on Twitter. "This is patently false," regarding the commi sioner's notion that the NHL isnot seeking a renegotiation of the CBA and the stre sors that will impact the season. "The deal was negotiated 4 months ago. It was entirely foreseeable that fans would not be allowed into buildings for most of the 2020-21 season when the deal was signed. Bottom line, some owners dont like the deal and want better terms." "The central basis of the CBA extension is players agreed to receive 72% of their contracts for 20-21," . "Any amount received by players above 50% of HRR is carried over to future years as an Escrow Debt and paid back to Owners from future revenues. Thats the e sence of the deal." It had been a while since the NHL and NHLPA got together that Bettman andNHLPA's executive director Donald Fehr recently spoke T.J. Tynan Jersey . So that's something,because regardle s of how or when the season happens,it will need to happen sooner rather than later because ofother factors such asthe Olympics and limiting the impact on future seasons. "We have a very clear, important focus on getting through the 2021 season so that we can be positioned for 2021-22 to get back to normalcy, because all indications are that we can look at normalcy for the 2021-22 season," . Normalcy. Yes, normalcy. It's a great word. It's what we all need and crave. And, to be fair, getting hockey back up and running is a good start.