Players don’t think their salaries should be pro-rated
Kevin McGran of Sportsnet: Players will get 72 percent of their salaries for the 2020-21 season, and the NHLPA believes they should get all of that regardless of how many games they play. Some owners believe the players salaries should be pro-rated.
The players are paying 20 percent into escrow and deferring 10 percent after the escrow number.
During the last lockout, the NHL started on January 20th and they played a 48 game schedule.
The 2020-21 season is the final year of the NHL’s TV deal with NBC which was for 10 years and $2 billion.
The NHL is a gate driven league and Statista.com estimates teams lose $1.3 million per game without having fans, and $215,000 on food and drinks.
A decision on next season needs to be made soon
Dan Rosen of NHL.com: NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said that they are considering two different 2020-21 schedules where teams play in their home arenas and one where games are played in hub cities.
“We have to build in flexibility for the hiccups that we expect will come along and have to expect will come along with potential COVID positives and contact tracing requirements,” Daly said. “Some of the difficulties that Baseball went through and some of the difficulties that the NFL is currently dealing with, how do we address those situations in the context of our own schedule? Those are all the things we’re working on and those are all the things that keep us all up at night as we try to figure this out.”
Teams would rather play in their home cities even without fans as opposed to hub cities. Some cities may not be able to host games even without fans in some markets because of local restrictions.
The NHL and NHLPA keep talking and a decision on the 2020-21 NHL season is going to have to be made soon.
“Look, we know there is some urgency here, there is some urgency for making decisions, and while we want to drop the puck on Jan. 1 we also recognize that we’re not going to rush into a bad decision just to make it,” Daly said. “Whether that Jan. 1 can be a little later, we certainly have flexibility to move it later. We are in regular communication with the clubs. I think the players and the clubs have a fairly good understanding of what a Jan. 1 opening would require.
“Realistically, if we’re going to start in the first part of January, mandatory training camps are going to have to start in the middle part of December. In some of our markets there continue to be quarantine requirements associated with players coming into town, so you factor those in and you back it up from there. I would ultimately concur with the conclusion that time is getting short.”