1. Philadelphia Inquirer NHL lockout will have economic impact on Philadelphia

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1 Philadelphia Flyers Daily Clips September 23, 2012 FLYERS/NHL Headlines 1. Philadelphia Inquirer NHL lockout will have economic impact on Philadelphia 2. Philadelphia Inquirer Inside the Flyers: Ins and outs of being locked out 3. TSN.ca Red Wings fined undisclosed amount for Devellano comments 4. TSN.ca NHL, PA schedule Monday meeting to discuss HRR 5. ESPN.com Brodeur has seen this movie four times FLYERS/NHL Articles 1. Philadelphia Inquirer NHL lockout will have economic impact on Philadelphia Sam Carchidi Everybody's a loser in the NHL's latest lockout. The players, the owners, the fans. The city's tax coffers, the arena workers, the folks who own businesses around the arenas. The owner-imposed lockout has reached Day 8, and both sides seem dug in for a long, drawn-out labor battle. "The whole thing is sad," Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn said Friday. "It affects so many different people." "Keep patient," Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo said when asked what message he would give to the fans, "because when it gets back, it's going to be a hell of a time." Several exhibition games have been canceled, and regular-season games - scheduled to start Oct are next in line. Based on numbers surrounding a franchise as similarly successful as the Flyers - the Boston Bruins - the lockout would probably cost area businesses close to $1 million per Flyers home game. Pat Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Boston Business Journal that the labor dispute could lead to the city's losing $850,000 to $1 million per game in local business revenue. NHL teams play 41 regular-season home games. Phil Hopkins, vice president and director of research for Select Greater Philadelphia, said he didn't have enough information to estimate the revenue-loss figure for businesses around the Wells Fargo Center. But he said the Boston figure "doesn't seem unreasonable. You would think it would be comparable" in Philadelphia.

2 Hopkins, whose company is affiliated with the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, noted that the area's economic impact is hard to pinpoint because no one knows what the 19,000-plus fans - a typical turnout at a Flyers home game - will do with their spare time if the lockout continues. "The question is, would the people who spend their money on the Flyers now spend it at the Kimmel Center or on restaurants?" he said. The Flyers said they would not provide information on potential lost revenue. The city is also going to lose a bundle in wage taxes, especially on the Flyers, whose payroll was about $66 million this season. The Flyers are still paying injured players Chris Pronger ($7.2 million), Andrej Meszaros ($4.75 million), Matt Walker ($2 million), and Andreas Lilja ($700,000) during the lockout, so the city will collect wage taxes from those contracts. The Flyers have their hefty contracts - such as the ones signed by Pronger and Meszaros - covered by insurance, an NHL source said. But if the lockout lasts all season, the city could lose about $1.3 million in city wage taxes paid by the rest of the Flyers. Players who live in the city pay 3.9 percent in city wage tax, while players who live outside the city play 3.5 percent. Players who live in Philadelphia pay city wage tax on all games, according to an official with the city's revenue department. The Flyers who live outside the city - most live in South Jersey - pay city wage tax only on home games, he said. The city will also lose substantial sales-tax revenue on purchases at the Wells Fargo Center and businesses around the arena, such as bars, restaurants and hotels. Even if the NHL schedule isn't played, the players will receive income from escrow checks next month, giving them 8 percent of their salaries. Based on the NHL's average salary of $2.55 million last season, the players will receive, on the average, an escrow check of $204,000. Five Flyers - Rinaldo, Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn, Eric Wellwood, and Erik Gustafsson - will play for the AHL Adirondack Phantoms during the work stoppage. They are on two-way contracts and will receive much less than if they were playing in the NHL. Schenn, for instance, will receive $157,500 - $67,500 in salary, plus $90,000 from his signing bonus. The 21-year-old forward could have made as much as $3.1 million, including performance bonuses, in the NHL. Gustafsson, 23, will receive the same deal as Schenn ($157,500, including a $90,000 from his signing bonus), but he would have earned $900,000 with the Flyers.

3 Couturier, 19, will collect $162,500 ($70,000 AHL salary, $92,500 signing bonus), but he could have earned $1.375 million with the Flyers. Wellwood, 22, will earn $65,000, as opposed to $540,000 with the Flyers. Rinaldo, 22, will receive $60,000 with the Phantoms, compared with $540,000 if he was with the Flyers. The Phantoms will report to training camp in Voorhees on Friday. Meanwhile, the Flyers have offered season-ticket-holders 2 percent interest on the money they have sent to the club. Some other interest amounts offered to season-ticket-holders around the NHL: Pittsburgh, 1.5; New Jersey, 2; Chicago, 2; Boston, 3 (if you buy season tickets); Buffalo, 4; Columbus, 4; Colorado, 5; Los Angeles, 5; and Minnesota, Philadelphia Inquirer Inside the Flyers: Ins and outs of being locked out Sam Carchidi Instead of NHL training camps opening with the customary optimism Saturday, the league was dark. Instead of the Flyers trying to sort out numerous lineup decisions before the scheduled Oct. 11 opener, their players are scattered around different continents. Instead of a countdown to the upcoming season, the Flyers, like all NHL teams, are in a state of disarray. Welcome to the latest NHL lockout, a development that is slowly pushing the sport out of the fans' consciousness. Three times in the last 18 years the NHL has had its collective-bargaining agreement expire. Three times it has triggered a lockout, showing that all the brilliant lawyers who are guiding the NHL and the NHL Players Association should retake their Negotiating 101 classes. The lockout is a week long, so you are probably tired of hearing about hockey-related revenue (HRR), about revenue sharing to save franchises that can't control their own spending, and the millionaire players and billionaire owners explain their woe-is-me positions. But, sadly, that's where we are - locked in a labor dispute that hasn't had formal talks in the last 11 days.

4 Can it be resolved quickly? Only if both sides are willing to actually get to the bargaining table and compromise. Will it be resolved quickly? Probably not, because both sides seem adamant (read: stubborn) in their positions. Why the players are playing hardball Annual revenue grew from $2.1 billion at the start of the last collective-bargaining agreement to a record $3.3 billion at the end of it. Armed with those numbers and hearing NHL commissioner Gary Bettman chirp that the game has never been healthier, the players don't understand why they are being asked to take much less of the pie in a redone CBA. They will receive, on average, a $204,000 escrow check next month based on their salary. Hey, it's not the $2.5 million the players are averaging, but you would think it will get them through the year. Right? They signed their contracts, fair and square, and are thus refusing to take substantial salary rollbacks through escrow. The players are the honorable ones in this dispute, one in which the owners say the last CBA was terrible. Those same owners rushed to sign players to more than $200 million in the final 48 hours before the "lousy" CBA expired on Sept. 15. Why the owners are playing hardball They think the fans will flock back to arenas like they did after the lockout. In the season before that stoppage, the NHL averaged 16,534 fans per game, according to STATS. The year after that lockout, attendance increased to 16,954. Last season, the league averaged 17,454 fans per game. They say more than half of the league's 30 teams are losing money and that they need to stop the bleeding. (Never mind that some of those "poor" teams handed out contracts between $98 million and $110 million.) They rightfully think the players are unrealistic when asking for around 53 to 54 percent of the HRR pool, pointing out that players in the NFL (48 percent) and the NBA (50 percent) receive less - and those sports have TV contracts that aren't in the same stratosphere as the NHL's. The NHL averages $200 million per year from NBC. That's small potatoes compared to the annual TV deals for the NFL ($3 billion) and the NBA ($930 million). Why the league should be concerned The three lockouts have alienated a huge number of fans who say their patience is running out. Some fans are saying a shortened schedule is actually more attractive than an 82-game slate, and they will happily get their sports fix from college and pro football, and Major League Baseball's postseason.

5 Many of the league's stars, including Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, are playing in Russia and collecting nice paychecks. Is it far-fetched to think that some of them, fed up with the work stoppages, might decide to take the NHL to court and remain there? Based on ratings, hockey on TV is about as popular as an ESPN poker tournament. The Los Angeles Kings' win over the New Jersey Devils in last season's Stanley Cup Finals averaged just 3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. By comparison, last year's World Series and NBA Finals each averaged more than 16 million viewers. Why this can be resolved The sides aren't ridiculously far apart in their hockey-related revenue proposal. The players want about percent, while the owners are offering 49 percent during the first year of a six-year CBA that ends at 47 percent. The league would probably agree to a 50/50 split. Both sides are willing to increase revenue sharing to aid teams that are struggling financially. There you go: common ground! The NHL currently shares about $150 million of its revenue and has said it will increase it to $190 million in the new CBA. The NHLPA wants to share $250 million. A source close to the NHL said that splitting the difference - and compromising at around $220 million - doesn't seem so outlandish. Because the NHL knows it has a good thing going. In fact, in its own news release, the league said the conditions in the previous CBA had created competitive balance, and "remarkable" league growth - and put the game "at its best." If so, why all the proposed CBA changes - from shorter contracts to salary rollbacks to free-agency alterations? Why this lockout could last Even after the HRR and revenue-sharing issues are resolved, there are many other potential stumbling blocks that have been put on the back burner. The NHL wants five-year maximum contracts and wants players to have 10 years of service before they become free agents. (Insert photo of Donald Fehr, the NHLPA executive director, rolling his eyes.) Another issue that could cause a fight to the finish: the league's desire to make entry-level deals go from three to five years. If the players conceded to this, they would deserve a bigger chunk of the HRR. If they were not to accept it, maybe Bettman and Fehr could stage a winner-take-all wrestling match on the program-starved NHL Network. It might even get better ratings than last year's Finals. 3. TSN.ca Red Wings fined undisclosed amount for Devellano comments Staff Reports

6 The Detroit Red Wings have been fined an undisclosed amount by the NHL for comments made by senior vice president Jim Devellano in an interview that was published earlier this week. The fine is reportedly in the range of $250,000. "The Detroit Red Wings' organization and the League agree that the comments made by Mr. Devellano are neither appropriate, nor authorized, nor permissible under the League's By-Laws," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "Such comments are neither constructive nor helpful to the negotiations." Devellano held an exclusive interview with Scott Harrigan of Island Sports News, where he discussed the lockout and collective bargaining talks. "It's very complicated and way too much for the average Joe to understand, but having said that, I will tell you this," said Devellano. "The owners can basically be viewed as the Ranch, and the players, and me included, are the cattle. The owners own the Ranch and allow the players to eat there. That's the way its always been and that the way it will be forever. And the owners simply aren't going to let a union push them around. It's not going to happen." Devellano also said that players should take 43 per cent of the revenue, instead of the current 57 per cent, and let the owners manage the rest of their expenses. "Yes, they are billionaires," Devellano said. "Good on them, they deserve it, but they also make their employees millionaires. Not a bad tradeoff for a guy like (Milan) Lucic getting what, $6 million a year? I mean good on him too, but he should be grateful. Understand, though, that these players want for nothing... it's first class this, first class that, meal allowances, travel money on the road, the whole shebang." The 69-year-old Devellano served as general manager of the Red Wings from and , remaining in the club's front office since then. Prior to that, the Toronto native served as director of scouting and assistant GM for the New York Islanders, helping mold the dynasty which won four consecutive Stanley Cups from TSN.ca NHL, PA schedule Monday meeting to discuss HRR TSN.ca Staff The National Hockey League and NHL Players' Association have scheduled to meet in Toronto on Monday to finish off last season's hockey-related revenue (HRR) numbers, including escrow payments for players. Both sides are hopeful that negotiations on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement will resume following Monday's meeting.

7 Most recently, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and the union were in Edmonton through Friday for a hearing with the Alberta Labour Board. The Players' Association are trying to get the Labour Relations Board to declare the current lockout illegal. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement expired on Saturday night and the NHL owners subsequently locked out the players. A number of players, including Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, Rick Nash, Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk have already signed contracts to play overseas until an agreement is reached. It's the NHL's fourth work stoppage in 20 years. 5. ESPN.com Brodeur has seen this movie four times Pierre LeBrun Martin Brodeur has achieved the lockout hat trick, and even that doesn t fully detail his experience with NHL labor wars. "I was part of a strike, too, so I ve actually been part of four work stoppages now," Brodeur reminded ESPN.com Thursday. "I was called up two days before [the strike in 1992] happened." Hard to believe Brodeur, who has played his entire career with the New Jersey Devils, still managed to squeeze out the all-time leading win total by a goalie (656) despite all of those CBA interruptions. "I counted it up the other day, it s going to be well over 100 games that I lost in the NHL because of work stoppages," Brodeur said. And counting, I interjected. "Yes, and counting, exactly," he said, before setting up a punch line with his trademark laugh: "But I wasn t going to play in the first preseason games anyway." Yes, now that the league has canceled the first couple of weeks of the preseason, we await other games to be canceled. If there's still no agreement when the real games in October are scheduled to start, the 40-year-old Brodeur says he ll ponder his playing options. Eight years ago, when the NHL season was canceled, Brodeur didn t jump to Europe to play in a league. He was satisfied after having played in the September 2004 World Cup

8 of Hockey, an exhibition tour of Europe in December, and May 2005 IIHF world hockey championship, where he earned a silver medal with Team Canada. This time around, playing in a European league might be on the docket and he s already advised agent Pat Brisson to be on the lookout. "I m going to wait it out until October, when they re going to start slashing games, and try to have a sense of where it s going," Brodeur said. "I know I m closing doors in Europe now because I m going to wait a little bit, but I d like to go somewhere to play by November if I can get an opportunity somewhere. Right now, I have no intention of going because while there s still lines of communication [between the NHL and NHLPA], it s still a positive thing. But if come the middle of October nothing is going on, I ve already talked to Pat about seeing what s out there." In the meantime, the third lockout of his career is no less aggravating. "It s really an unfortunate thing to hold the players and the fans to this kind of treatment all the time," he said. "Regardless of whether it s something they need to do -- I think everyone understands everybody s situation -- but when you always try to bully somebody, it s kind of tough. It s been three times now.... It s tough when they use the same things to always get what they want, but again, they re in their rights to do it. It s not like they re doing anything different, they re going about their business that they feel they can get a better deal for themselves." Brodeur, like most people, saw this lockout coming. That explains why he fought so hard for a two-year deal from the Devils, enough that he even hit the open market for a few days before general manager Lou Lamoriello relented. "At the end of the day, that was foremost the first reason why Lou and I didn t agree on a one-year deal, because I kept telling him that I needed a guarantee I would play hockey," Brodeur said. "At my age, if I go through a whole lockout without a contract, it would have been tough for me to sign for the value I thought I was worth. So I debated with Lou a long time. It took more time than I thought it would. But they came around with it. For me, both mentally and physically, it was the most important thing to get that extra year. Because my experience is that when people talk lockout, usually it happens. That s the feeling that I had. The second year was a safety valve for me." A one-year deal would have risked seeing his career conclude with the end of a year-long lockout. He didn t want to chance that. "Eventually I ll leave the game, but I want to leave it the way I want to leave it, and not because of a work stoppage," Brodeur said. "There s so many great players that had that happen to them last time and I m sure it killed them. Hopefully, that s under my control now with how I structured things, but I guess you never know."

9 Until then, Brodeur hopes saner minds prevail. He believes the NHLPA has made good offers and the NHL hasn t recognized those efforts. But for the better of the game, he hopes there s labor peace. "A lot of positive stuff came out of the last few seasons in the NHL, and now we re going back to the negative stuff," he said. "It s just not healthy." FLYERS