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NHL plans new talks as fledgling rival emerges
March 16, 2005
TORONTO, Canada (AFP) - National Hockey League officials, hoping to kickstart a comeback from oblivion by with some help from star prospect Sidney Crosby, will reportedly meet Thursday with union bosses.
The second negotiating session in a week following last Friday's talks is the first since backers of the fledgling World Hockey Association announced plans for a tournament May 20 to June 2 in Hamilton and Vancover, Canada.
Two sets of NHL players would be paid 20,000 dollars with a two million-dollar prize at stake for the winners under the plan, backed by NHL veteran Jeremy Roenick, with an eye to launching a 10-team league in October.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman shut down the league last month, making the NHL the first major North American sport league to wipe out an entire season in a labor feud.
Sides could not decide how to divide profits from a 2.1 billion-dollar industry but the league would like to make a deal before the planned NHL Draft, scheduled for June 25-26 in Ottawa.
Junior superstar Crosby, 17, is a near-lock to be the first player taken, having been compared to legend Wayne Gretzky by no less an authority than "The Great One" himself.
But without a draft, Crosby could play where he likes. That includes Europe, where more than half of the 700 NHL players went for the lost season, or maybe the WHA if it proves to have solid financial footing.
Crosby, who signed a five-year multi-million-dollar endorsement deal this week, said he would consider a WHA offer if the NHL remains at odds with the union, seemingly unwilling to become a replacement player if NHL owners take that route.
March 16, 2005
TORONTO, Canada (AFP) - National Hockey League officials, hoping to kickstart a comeback from oblivion by with some help from star prospect Sidney Crosby, will reportedly meet Thursday with union bosses.
The second negotiating session in a week following last Friday's talks is the first since backers of the fledgling World Hockey Association announced plans for a tournament May 20 to June 2 in Hamilton and Vancover, Canada.
Two sets of NHL players would be paid 20,000 dollars with a two million-dollar prize at stake for the winners under the plan, backed by NHL veteran Jeremy Roenick, with an eye to launching a 10-team league in October.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman shut down the league last month, making the NHL the first major North American sport league to wipe out an entire season in a labor feud.
Sides could not decide how to divide profits from a 2.1 billion-dollar industry but the league would like to make a deal before the planned NHL Draft, scheduled for June 25-26 in Ottawa.
Junior superstar Crosby, 17, is a near-lock to be the first player taken, having been compared to legend Wayne Gretzky by no less an authority than "The Great One" himself.
But without a draft, Crosby could play where he likes. That includes Europe, where more than half of the 700 NHL players went for the lost season, or maybe the WHA if it proves to have solid financial footing.
Crosby, who signed a five-year multi-million-dollar endorsement deal this week, said he would consider a WHA offer if the NHL remains at odds with the union, seemingly unwilling to become a replacement player if NHL owners take that route.
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