A group of APSE sports editors met in April in New York with commissioners from the four major sports leagues, plus the NHL and Major League Baseball players associations, NASCAR, U.S. Track and Field and the United States Olympic Committee. Here's what they had to say.

Barring a breakthrough in stalled negotiations, the NHL and its players will split ways in September. And it may be a long time before the players return to the ice.

"It's going to be a long, ugly fight unfortunately," Ted Saskin, senior director of the NHL Players Association, said in April to a group of sports editors. "Both sides can weather a storm. It's insanity to go down this road. Fans are all you have and when you start to lose them, you can become irrelevant pretty easily."

League sources and observers say a work stoppage could easily last nearly 18 months, which would likely exterminate up to a dozen teams if it lasts more than a year. The current collective bargaining agreement, forged in 1994, expires Sept. 15. In those 10 years, the league said its revenues have grown by 173 percent, while player salaries have grown 261 percent.

"It's problematic because the league distorts data," said Saskin, who, like most union representatives, disputes those numbers. "I find it frustrating because these are smart people. We think the only way to have a full and open debate is to have full disclosure."

According to the league, teams are losing a substantial sum of money across the board. So the league wants a salary cap, or "cost certainty," as Commissioner Gary Bettman calls it, to stem the losses. A new CBA, the NHL says, would create an economic system where 30 clubs can ice competitive teams and pay the players fairly.

"It's obviously distressing that the economics are not what it used to be," Saskin said. "We are prepared to discuss the issues, but we need detailed notes on the financials. Every time we get some numbers, the league changes them."

After months of not talking, the league and players association finally began meeting again in late April, but neither side reports any progress. The league wants a salary cap; the players stand vehemently against it.

"They understand that we're not prepared to negotiate a cap," Saskin said. "The only way they'll get it is through a long fight and they win the battle. Where will it end? I don't know."

Saskin said the players union will offer to take pay cuts but refuses to limit salaries.

"No informed and sensible players union is going to negotiate a salary cap system," he said. "The owners know what the players are worth. Let him continue to make the judgment call. Every salary cap has been detrimental to the league. We've always worked in a market system. We are prepared to fight."

— Lynn Hoppes
Orlando Sentinel