Two owners leave talks; mediation redux?
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 05: (L-R) Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins, Larry Tanenbaum of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Bill Daly of the NHL proceed to negotiations with the NHL Players Association at the Westin Times Square on December 5, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) Credit: Getty Bruce Bennett
Toronto's Larry Tanenbaum and Winnipeg's Mark Chipman have left NYC. Four owners left to talk to union whenever it happens today.
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First noted by SportsBusinessJournal’s Liz Mullen, the NHLPA has suggested that mediators be brought into the talks again. The league has not decided whether to accept.
Think back to late November, when Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service head George H. Cohen offered to provide some outside assistance.
The sides agreed to try, and Cohen appointed two mediators, who met over two days with the league and union at a sub-regional office in Iselin, N.J. The mediators bowed out because the talks were unproductive.
Because the two sides had been mired in mud and the top negotiators had not met for a week, I thought: “Why not?” Fresh voice, fresh perspective.
But that was then, and this was now. A group of players and a sextet of owners have been talking directly for about 18 hours over two days. Will this really help, or will it just stall any progress? Some has been made in the past 48 hours, although there were some very rocky moments last night.
A cynic would say it’s a stall tactic, rather than just hammering out the best deal possible and put it to players and owners for a vote.
The risk is great: Is losing another two weeks of games through the end of December and the additional disappearing revenue somehow be worth whatever a deal in the next few days could provide? Will there really be a better deal down in two or three weeks? Not to mention the extra fan/sponsor backlash.
As we’ve said before, both sides are losing sight of the big picture…And that’s foolish. Especially at this stage.
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