Negotiating - A New Term to the NHL

Negotiate [ni-goh-shee-eyt] verb:

1. To work or talk (with others) to achieve (a transaction, anagreement, etc)
2. To communicate in search of mutual agreement

It seems like neither the NHLPA or the NHL knows the correct meaning of the term. It seems they have forgot that to negotiate you need to communicate.

The NHL finally looked like it was willing to make some progress towards ending this lockout. They made a proposal, headlined by a 50/50 split of hockey related revenue and sent it to the players.....and the world. The players were openly skeptic of the offer, so in a bid to clear the air the NHL tweeted it's entire proposal out. My first thoughts? This is a publicity stunt. During a private negotiation you don't use your fans as leverage. It's a bad idea. 

Both sides seem more concerned about what the general populace thinks of them than how the collective bargaining agreement shapes up. Neither side wants to look like they are caving. 

If that was the goal, then well played NHL. You went with that magic "50/50" number everyone felt was fair, and then you made your offer public so that the players can't make false claims. Very tactical. Your move players.

Oh you have 3 counter-proposals. Good, good. Making progress gentlemen. Finally looks like we might hav....oh they were rejected? But I barely finished wri....for real? *punches monitor, throws hands up, turns on pre-season basketball (yeah. I went there)* 

The NHL took less than 15 minutes to reject the proposals. It took me nearly 15 minutes to read just the synopsis of them. How they ever got through all 3 proposals and determined they were inadequate in 15 minutes is a mystery to me. It also puts you back into the "unlike" category NHL. Clearly your first offer was a publicity stunt by this point. And if that is where you are standing firm well again you AREN'T NEGOTIATING!! You have to give some to get some.

I want to take a minute to educate you on one of the main points I think people are getting confused on. HRR or Hockey Related Revenue. The actual definition is still up for debate but it is pretty much the money the NHL generates from ticket sales, concessions and merchandise. Here is where the confusion starts. Right now the players take home 57% of that. This was negotiated during the last lockout. Now the Owners want them to take 50%. A 7% decrease which when worked out (7/57) is a loss of 12% of the revenue they earned the last number of years. This is why a 50/50 split is still a little far fetched. The players are taking a huge loss on a deal they negotiated with the same people 7 years ago.

Imagine starting a new job and negotiating a salary of $100,000. Then after you see your company's stock rise, profits are good, your boss asks you to take a salary cut to $88,000 for the next bunch of years. Probably not going to fly.

Both sides are going to have to take hits. It's what happens when you negotiate. You will give up some things but gain some other things. There is absolutely no way you can do that in a 15 minute meeting with this much on the line. If that is the best effort you can put forth, I'm sure your fans will put the same effort in to support you. 

If fans weren't already angry about all this (spoiler alert: they were) they certainly are now. A bit of optimism was met with the same nonsense we have been dealing with for months. Two sides unwilling to negotiate, unwilling to bend and who care more about the $$$'s they will earn than putting together a product to sell. If they aren't careful, there won't be any $$$'s to squabble over, and no fans to appeal to.