Fehr, the union's executive director, highlighted the key points in the email to the players, obtained by QMI Agency:
1. Transition payment ("make whole"): We moved off of our $393 Million proposal and accepted the League's December 5 offer of $300 Million. This means there is an agreement on dollars.
2. Individual SPC (standard player contract) length and Variability of SPCs: The Owners have proposed (i) a limit of 5 years, except that Players who re-sign with their Clubs could contract for 7 years, and (ii) a 5% limit on year-to-year salary variability in long-term deals. We believe that these restrictions would devastate the "middle class" of players and result in the NBA model, where a few players earn huge salaries while pushing everyone else down toward the minimum. (Their proposal would also undermine the free-agent market by giving a significant advantage to Clubs that want to re-sign their own Players.) Moreover, in spite of our concerns, in order to close the deal we moved from of our last offer (a 10-year limit and no limit on variability) and instead proposed an 8-year limit on all SPCs and a variability limit of 25% over the term of the SPC, applied to contracts of 7 years or longer.
3. Pensions: We agreed to the Owners' proposal on pensions, which included the Players' commitment of $50 Million of the $300 Million transition payment in order to address Owners' concerns about their liability in the event of underfunding.
4. CBA Term: The League pressed hard for a 10-year term, moving off their previous proposal of 6 + 1, and doubling the length of their initial proposal of a 5 years. In fact, they've moved away from us on this issue from the very start. Nevertheless, in an effort to reach agreement, we made a major move towards them, offering an 8-year term, with a Player right to opt out after 6 years.
5. Cap Benefit Recapture: We again made a move towards the League, responding to their complaint that this provision must apply to existing SPCs as well as new ones, by offering to cover all existing contracts that have 7 years or more remaining.
Fehr ended the email by summing up the events of late Thursday afternoon -- that the owners sent Bill Daly and Bob Batterman to receive the proposal.
An hour later, Daly left a voice mail for Steve Fehr, telling him the negotiating committee could leave New York, as there would be no further meetings Thursday night or on Friday, and that the NHL was taking their proposal off the table.
