It's felt like 3 years.
What was so bad about the last CBA that the owners had to lock out. This wasn't 04 when the league really was in trouble. They were finally making money, why jeopardize that. It was all greed of the owners.
There were a lot of issues that the owners didn't foresee from the implementation of the salary cap (and salary floor). The NHL had record growth year over year since the last lockout. No one (should) anticipate such growth to continue exponentially - a major sticking point between owner v. player proposals in this mess.
The cap went from $39M to $64.3M in just 7 years, raising the floor from $23M to $48.3M, which is more than double. That, combined with an insufficient revenue sharing model, put much of the league in financial constraints. Small market teams had to overpay on mediocre players just to meet the salary floor and associated costs skyrocketed.
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The % of HRR is still a contested point, whether it's at 57%, 50%, or 43%. The players still contest that tricky accounting hides revenue from HRR, effectively decreasing their maximum earning potential, as the salary cap is tied to revenue.
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Fehr is not the sole person to blame. The owners are to blame, the players, and Gary Bettman are also all to blame.
The NHL is to blame because its absurd initial proposal shelved negotiations for almost two months. It also had zero sense of urgency to negotiate before a lockout was put in place.
Fehr is only to blame for one thing - doing what he was hired to do by the players,
which is get them the best deal possible. No one can deny Fehr was wildly successful in doing so. One can argue lost wages for this season cannot be recouped, but look at the gains from the initial proposal to now. The players and NHLPA clawed back in order to get an adequate proposal from the league.
Another success of Fehr, aided by that nuclear bomb of an initial proposal by the NHL, is that the NHL finally has a union again. It's still not on par with the MLBPA, but it's so much more united than it was before last summer. Reigning in 700 different players is no small feat, especially when most have not been receiving paychecks for quite some time.
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Either way, this situation is a huge fail where everyone lost - the league, the players, and the fans. I'm torn on the news of the proposed agreement. Part of me has gotten by just fine without the NHL, but another is waiting to rush back and watch every game I can on TV.
I have no intentions of going to the Joe for a game, but the always opportunist in me will certainly pounce on 3rd market tickets if people who do not want to go to games anymore want to sell theirs off for cheap. I will also continue saving for a partial ticket package so I can purchase 2014 Wings/Maple Leafs Winter Classic tickets. I wouldn't miss that for anything.