NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement
The Collective Bargaining Agreement of the NHL ( German collective agreement the NHL , short CBA ) is the " collective agreement " between the teams in the NHL and the players 'union National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA). The contract was signed after the founding of the NHLPA in 1967 with the aim of ensuring typical collective bargaining conditions and has since been expanded and supplemented several times.
history
After the lockout of the 1994/95 season , which fell victim to 38 of the 84 game days of the regular season , the contract was changed for the first time. The new agreement was initially supposed to last for six years, but was eventually extended to September 15, 2004 ahead of schedule. When negotiations for a new contract remained unsuccessful, the NHL decided to suspend the 2004/05 season until an agreement could be reached. The second lockout by club owners in the history of the highest North American professional league began at 12:01 p.m. on September 16. When further meetings did not lead to any result, NHL boss Gary Bettman announced the complete cancellation of the season on February 16, 2005. The efforts of the former players and club owners at the time Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux to bring players and clubs together remained unsuccessful in the days that followed.
Only on July 13, 2005, the club owners and the union agreed on the new cornerstones of the CBA, which were ratified on July 22, 2005, so that the 310 day strike came to an end. The new agreement with the NHLPA had a term of six years with an option for an additional year. The contract expired on September 15, 2012, and the start of the 2012/13 season was uncertain due to the ongoing negotiations between the team owners and the players' union. On January 6, 2013, the union and the team owner agreed on a new contract. The season was then shortened to 48 games per team. In addition, only games were played within the Western and Eastern Conference. In the shortened season, the salary cap , the upper limit of the cumulative player salaries, was 60 million dollars. In the 2013/14 season this rose to $ 64.3 million.
Collective Bargaining Agreement 2005
The most important cornerstones of the new agreement of July 22, 2005, valid from the 2005/06 NHL season , were:
- All existing player contracts will be reduced by 24 percent.
- For the 2005/06 season, which was the salary cap , the salary cap each team, with 39 million US dollars are, the lower limit at 21.5 million dollars. These sums were calculated using projected sales of $ 1.7 billion. The maximum wage for the recently ended 2008-09 season was $ 56,700,000 per team.
- Throughout the league, player salaries cannot exceed 54 percent of total sales.
- Portions of the salaries are deposited in a deposit until the respective new upper salary limit for the following season is determined.
- The minimum wage increases from $ 185,000 to $ 450,000, in the sixth year of a contract to $ 500,000.
- The ten highest-earning clubs pay between three and eight million dollars into a fund, which is proportionally passed on to the 15 “poorest” teams.
- The maximum earnings a newcomer can earn via the NHL Entry Draft is $ 850,000. If such a player reaches all achievable bonuses, he can earn a maximum of 4.5 million dollars. However, these bonuses are difficult to achieve in total.
- A determination of salary will also be possible from the club side. So far, only players have had this right. This should make it possible for player contracts to be devalued for players who perform poorly.
- Unannounced doping tests are carried out at least twice a year. Positive test results meant a ban of 20 games the first time, 60 games the second time, and a lifelong ban.
- The NHL players could take part in the 2006 Winter Olympics , if nominated. The league took a break from playing during the tournament.
Individual evidence
- ^ The Washington Post Online, Cold Reality: NHL Cancels The Season
- ↑ usatoday.com, Game on: NHL, union agree to end lockout