Post by vibechick on Sept 15, 2004 14:21:39 GMT -5
Official word:
Game off, NHL board delivers unanimous vote to trigger player lockout
Updated at 14:39 on September 15, 2004, EST.
NHL chief Gary bettman. (CP)
(CP) - The puck stops here.
The NHL board of governors, at a meeting in New York, unanimously voted Wednesday to "not play again until there is a new economic system." With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring at midnight Wednesday, the decision means the NHL season is officially on ice.
A lockout has begun.
"Twenty of our clubs are losing money," commissioner Gary Bettman said at a New York news conference. "There have been too many bankruptcies and too many other close calls. I have had too many owners tell me they will get out of this game if the economics are not repaired."
"This game's future depends upon getting the right economic system," he added. "In the absence of such a system, there is no future for our game."
The NHL Players' Association was scheduled to respond to the league announcement later in the day.
Bettman, in a prepared text, said the league had "done everything possible to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement that works . . .
"Sadly, those efforts have not achieved their objective. And as the league stands at the threshold of the conclusion of the current CBA, which occurs at midnight tonight, it is my sombre duty to report that at today's meeting, the board of governors unanimously re-confirmed that NHL teams will not play at the expiration of the CBA until we have a new system which fixes the economic problems facing our game."
The optimistic prediction is for an end to the labour impasse in January, seen as the cutoff point for an NHL season to be salvaged - just like 9 ½ years ago during the last lockout.
Some believe the whole 2004-05 season could be cancelled. That means the Stanley Cup not being awarded for the first time since 1919 - when an influenza epidemic stopped the Montreal-Seattle final.
Game off, NHL board delivers unanimous vote to trigger player lockout
Updated at 14:39 on September 15, 2004, EST.
NHL chief Gary bettman. (CP)
(CP) - The puck stops here.
The NHL board of governors, at a meeting in New York, unanimously voted Wednesday to "not play again until there is a new economic system." With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring at midnight Wednesday, the decision means the NHL season is officially on ice.
A lockout has begun.
"Twenty of our clubs are losing money," commissioner Gary Bettman said at a New York news conference. "There have been too many bankruptcies and too many other close calls. I have had too many owners tell me they will get out of this game if the economics are not repaired."
"This game's future depends upon getting the right economic system," he added. "In the absence of such a system, there is no future for our game."
The NHL Players' Association was scheduled to respond to the league announcement later in the day.
Bettman, in a prepared text, said the league had "done everything possible to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement that works . . .
"Sadly, those efforts have not achieved their objective. And as the league stands at the threshold of the conclusion of the current CBA, which occurs at midnight tonight, it is my sombre duty to report that at today's meeting, the board of governors unanimously re-confirmed that NHL teams will not play at the expiration of the CBA until we have a new system which fixes the economic problems facing our game."
The optimistic prediction is for an end to the labour impasse in January, seen as the cutoff point for an NHL season to be salvaged - just like 9 ½ years ago during the last lockout.
Some believe the whole 2004-05 season could be cancelled. That means the Stanley Cup not being awarded for the first time since 1919 - when an influenza epidemic stopped the Montreal-Seattle final.
