Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The NHL Board of Governors rejected a no-strike, no-lockout proposal by the players, clearing the way for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to postpone the start of the season today, The Canadian Press reported Thursday night.
``We had a pretty frank conversation and rejected the offer,'' a source who took part in a conference call among league governors told the wire service in Toronto.
A second source who listened in on the call said: ``It's pretty obvious we won't be playing on Saturday.''
ESPN also reported the owners had rejected the players' offer. The cable network said the league wanted to announce its decision today so the owners would have time to come to New York and present a united front.
Bob Goodenow, executive director of the players' union, was out of his office Thursday night and unavailable to comment on the owners' apparent rejection of the proposal.
The governors were responding to an offer made Thursday afternoon by the NHL Players Association. Players promised they would play the entire season and Stanley Cup playoffs if the league promised not to lock them out.
``If they reject it, it means they want a fight,'' Goodenow had said. ``Our players are fully prepared to stay in a long battle throughout the season. If that is what they want, we are ready for a long, nasty and dirty fight.''
The rejection means hockey will become the second major sport shut down this month by a labor dispute. The baseball season was called off Sept.14 following a players strike that began Aug.12.
The Board of Governors considered the players' offer during a 21/2-hour conference call Thursday night, then scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference in New York today to respond to the union's proposal.
Goodenow made the no-strike bid to Bettman, but a union spokesman said he had not heard from the league following the conference call.
With all hope of reaching a labor agreement before the scheduled start of the season Saturday gone, the players' union offered not to strike this season if Bettman agreed not to lock them out and to restore numerous givebacks imposed before the start of training camp.
``We are not going to have an agreement by the deadline,'' Goodenow said at a news conference in Toronto. ``What we propose today will enable the season to start on schedule.''
Some governors, however, were maintaining a hard line.
John McMullen, owner of the New Jersey Devils, cited a recent report that NHL teams had $700 million in revenue last year and spent $440 million on player salaries.
``The franchises cannot exist getting a third of the revenues,'' he said. ``It would be an impossible situation. It would be the death knell of the professional hockey game. It just cannot exist on that.
``With the money I have spent on this team, I could have thrown a dart at the New York Stock Exchange and done better.''
Bill Torrey, president of the Florida Panthers, said his team had the league's second lowest payroll, played to 94 percent of capacity at home last season and still lost more than $3 million.
``That's not a smart business,'' Torrey said.
by CNB