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NHL Lays Out Vision for 2021 Season in Private Call; Talks of January 13th Start Date


Phil

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Allan Walsh

@walsha

The NHL is soft floating the idea with media if no deal with the NHLPA is reached on the Return to Play, it can unilaterally invoke Force Majeure and cancel the 2020-21 season

There are so many flaws to this, I don’t know where to start. Does the NHL really think it can demand an additional $300M in concessions from players after negotiating the financial terms of the 20-21 season DURING the pandemic 4 months ago? 1h

The Players agreed to accept 72% of their contracts due to the pandemic. NHL owners cannot now assert they don’t like the deal, demand $300M more from the Players and if the Players don’t give in, cancel the season by invoking Force Majeure

1h

In reality, if the NHL cancels the 20-21 season because the Players won’t give another $300M in concessions, that is a LOCKOUT, which is expressly prohibited by CBA Art. 7.1 (b) If the NHL lawyers are advising owners they have a winning case here, I suggest they go back to law school. Owners will be subjecting themselves to billions in potential damages if they falsely invoke Force Majeure to cancel the season. End

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

 

Spoken as if he were a player agent.

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Doesn't appear to be anything in a google search about the NHL or any teams collecting on any insurance policy under some "force majeure" clause for last season. Highly doubtful even if they got a little $ under such policies last season any insurer would pay out again.

 

Without games and TV money how do you keep things going? Reverse 3rd jerseys only create so much revenue. Would like to think with vaccines right there by sometime in early spring you could have fans in attendance.

 

Best course of action for all; make the best of it and play a truncated season. Lots of industries are having a dog's breakfast. Dig in and shut up about it.

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Doesn't appear to be anything in a google search about the NHL or any teams collecting on any insurance policy under some "force majeure" clause for last season. Highly doubtful even if they got a little $ under such policies last season any insurer would pay out again.

 

Without games and TV money how do you keep things going? Reverse 3rd jerseys only create so much revenue. Would like to think with vaccines right there by sometime in early spring you could have fans in attendance.

 

Best course of action for all; make the best of it and play a truncated season. Lots of industries are having a dog's breakfast. Dig in and shut up about it.

 

The most interesting thing is how some of the owners - and there are quite a few (Dolan, Stan Kroenke, MLSE, Leonsis, the Pegulas) - who own multiple franchises could invoke a Force Majeure on the NHL when their other teams are playing. It's an almost comically bad legal argument.

 

Regardless, this is the ultimate shot in the foot for the NHL if the owners go through with it. I believe Walsh is actually right here - this would be a massive legal case for the PA against the owners, and they'd probably win. Further, short term gain, sure, but fuckers, your TV contract is both horrible and up for renegotiation next year. Get your product out.

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The most interesting thing is how some of the owners - and there are quite a few (Dolan, Stan Kroenke, MLSE, Leonsis, the Pegulas) - who own multiple franchises could invoke a Force Majeure on the NHL when their other teams are playing. It's an almost comically bad legal argument.

 

Regardless, this is the ultimate shot in the foot for the NHL if the owners go through with it. I believe Walsh is actually right here - this would be a massive legal case for the PA against the owners, and they'd probably win. Further, short term gain, sure, but fuckers, your TV contract is both horrible and up for renegotiation next year. Get your product out.

 

the NHL is obsessed with 1) trying wayyyyy to hard to appeal to new fans that won't watch or if they do, won't stay that they will ruin it for their existing fans, and 2) destroying all posibilities of growing their game

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I was wondering about the season being a loss. The NBA ended after the NHL, and they are already having training camp and are starting around Christmas. The NHL is no where near ready to start camps, there is no way they have a season at this point. The NHL has screwed up in so many ways dealing with the players. Worst part is, they bout out Hank and now didn't have to.
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The most interesting thing is how some of the owners - and there are quite a few (Dolan, Stan Kroenke, MLSE, Leonsis, the Pegulas) - who own multiple franchises could invoke a Force Majeure on the NHL when their other teams are playing. It's an almost comically bad legal argument.

 

Regardless, this is the ultimate shot in the foot for the NHL if the owners go through with it. I believe Walsh is actually right here - this would be a massive legal case for the PA against the owners, and they'd probably win. Further, short term gain, sure, but fuckers, your TV contract is both horrible and up for renegotiation next year. Get your product out.

 

When it comes to a CBA, if you dont have the money, you dont have the money. NHL Owners would be required to open their books and show a loss.

 

You cant force a company to operate when they are losing money.

Courts dont usually rule against companies that have to make financial decisions based on 'acts of god'. The NHL went and said, "we cant successfully function unless ____ ." Players said no. Ok, no season.

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I was wondering about the season being a loss. The NBA ended after the NHL, and they are already having training camp and are starting around Christmas. The NHL is no where near ready to start camps, there is no way they have a season at this point. The NHL has screwed up in so many ways dealing with the players. Worst part is, they bout out Hank and now didn't have to.

 

Blame Canada.

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When it comes to a CBA, if you dont have the money, you dont have the money. NHL Owners would be required to open their books and show a loss.

 

You cant force a company to operate when they are losing money.

Courts dont usually rule against companies that have to make financial decisions based on 'acts of god'. The NHL went and said, "we cant successfully function unless ____ ." Players said no. Ok, no season.

 

They also came to an agreement 4 months ago, and the owners now are demanding they change that agreement. Legally, they can't do it, and I also wonder what that does to the CBA because this would technically be a breach of contract by the owners.

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They also came to an agreement 4 months ago, and the owners now are demanding they change that agreement. Legally, they can't do it, and I also wonder what that does to the CBA because this would technically be a breach of contract by the owners.

 

Yes, four months ago, when their data was different. The league is operating on new data now that shows it can't operate under these conditions or the agreement they signed four months ago. I'm normally extremely pro player in these scenarios, but in this one, I'm not. It's as simple as this: we know we agreed, but things have changed, and we can't honor it. We need additional deferrals if you want to play this year, and if you can't agree to that in good faith, we very likely will not play at all. So, you can either agree to reductions so you can earn some portion of what you are owed with a promise to pay back the rest at a later date, or you can earn nothing at all.

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Yes, four months ago, when their data was different. The league is operating on new data now that shows it can't operate under these conditions or the agreement they signed four months ago. I'm normally extremely pro player in these scenarios, but in this one, I'm not. It's as simple as this: we know we agreed, but things have changed, and we can't honor it. We need additional deferrals if you want to play this year, and if you can't agree to that in good faith, we very likely will not play at all. So, you can either agree to reductions so you can earn some portion of what you are owed with a promise to pay back the rest at a later date, or you can earn nothing at all.

 

But what has changed in 4 months? We are still in the same position we were 8 months ago. These owners should have known that back then, if not, then they were ignorant. I don't see saying either you give us this much back, or we are shutting it all down for the season as bargaining in good faith. Seems like the players are being asked to give up more than the owners are willing to concede.

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They also came to an agreement 4 months ago, and the owners now are demanding they change that agreement. Legally, they can't do it, and I also wonder what that does to the CBA because this would technically be a breach of contract by the owners.

 

They cant do it unilaterally or arbitrarily.

 

If theres an "act of god" that forces changes, in this case, mostly financial, they can go back to the PA and say, "here's the situation...." They did. Players said no. Ok, then theres no hockey.

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But what has changed in 4 months? We are still in the same position we were 8 months ago. These owners should have known that back then, if not, then they were ignorant. I don't see saying either you give us this much back, or we are shutting it all down for the season as bargaining in good faith. Seems like the players are being asked to give up more than the owners are willing to concede.

 

That's why I said the NHL & owners would be required to support this, usually by 'opening their books'.

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But what has changed in 4 months? We are still in the same position we were 8 months ago. These owners should have known that back then, if not, then they were ignorant. I don't see saying either you give us this much back, or we are shutting it all down for the season as bargaining in good faith. Seems like the players are being asked to give up more than the owners are willing to concede.

 

Their projections, most likely, but as Josh indicated, they'd need to prove this.

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They cant do it unilaterally or arbitrarily.

 

If theres an "act of god" that forces changes, in this case, mostly financial, they can go back to the PA and say, "here's the situation...." They did. Players said no. Ok, then theres no hockey.

 

The problem is that the “act of god” was happening when they signed onto this. They knew then what was going on. It would be like if you booked something at the beginning of the year and it was cancelled because of the pandemic and you got your money back. You can’t book it again for now, and then say you want all your money back because the pandemic is still going on, that was the decision you made knowing things weren’t getting better and knowing that there was a second round coming.

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The problem is that the “act of god” was happening when they signed onto this. They knew then what was going on. It would be like if you booked something at the beginning of the year and it was cancelled because of the pandemic and you got your money back. You can’t book it again for now, and then say you want all your money back because the pandemic is still going on, that was the decision you made knowing things weren’t getting better and knowing that there was a second round coming.

 

Fine.

Then no hockey season.

 

 

 

See how that works?

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Covid is a true act of god. This isn’t a “We made a bad marketing decision with the red wings retro jersey now we can’t pay”

 

It’s, “because of this ‘act of god’ (continuance/up tick in covid, Canada and covid,no fans, travel restrictions, etc), our finances are not, and will not be strong enough to put out a profitable product.”

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Covid is a true act of god. This isn’t a “We made a bad marketing decision with the red wings retro jersey now we can’t pay”

 

It’s, “because of this ‘act of god’ (continuance/up tick in covid, Canada and covid,no fans, travel restrictions, etc), our finances are not, and will not be strong enough to put out a profitable product.”

 

I get what your saying, but how many times can you use it as an excuse. This isn’t a deal they struck in April, they were in the thick of the pandemic. They knew it was bad and going to remain bad for a while, everyone knew this. They planned poorly and now is the fans have to suffer. The real issue is what does this do to the CBA? Does the owners breach in the deal nullify it? That is the main issue here because COVID isn’t going away anytime soon, and we could even see all of this lasting through the end of next year. Cuomo, not that I believe what he says, did say today that things could start turning around by September of 2021.

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To me, the utmost importance is the sport first. While the owners face some blame, you can’t get blood from a stone. I’m not sure where we go from here but I’m not so sure everyone really saw the big picture that this upcoming season would be this impacted. We are in uncharted territory. I’m not so sure it’s in the sports best interest for the players to go Goodfellas style and say “fuck you pay me”
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To me, the utmost importance is the sport first. While the owners face some blame, you can’t get blood from a stone. I’m not sure where we go from here but I’m not so sure everyone really saw the big picture that this upcoming season would be this impacted. We are in uncharted territory. I’m not so sure it’s in the sports best interest for the players to go Goodfellas style and say “fuck you pay me”

 

But in the same sense, you can't have the owners saying we want almost 50% of your salary or there is no season. When the teams were laying people off, a lot of the player came in and donated money to those workers, not the owners. The owners don't seem to give a shit in overcharging fans when he team is playing like shit. I get that things are bad, but this should have been thought about 4 months ago when they negotiated this deal.

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But in the same sense, you can't have the owners saying we want almost 50% of your salary or there is no season.

 

Saying that is not so unreasonable when revenues are going to be down by more than 50%. I just can't see how the NHL can have a season with no gate revenue. It's not like the other sports.

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But in the same sense, you can't have the owners saying we want almost 50% of your salary or there is no season. When the teams were laying people off, a lot of the player came in and donated money to those workers, not the owners. The owners don't seem to give a shit in overcharging fans when he team is playing like shit. I get that things are bad, but this should have been thought about 4 months ago when they negotiated this deal.

 

I guess it depends on how you define a lot. Less than 1% maybe?

 

I also think Brian Burke nailed it down pretty good. It's about sharing the losses in an extraordinary circumstance. I don't think anybody envisioned having record deaths yesterday back when this deal was signed. If the players don't want to adjust that's fine but I certainly don't think the owners need to accommodate them and have a season. Choose your poison.

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