Briere chastises Bettman's negotiations
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Briere chastises Bettman's negotiations
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Flyers center Danny Briere, his frustration growing, made highly critical remarks Tuesday about how Gary Bettman is handling the NHL’s negotiations with the players’ union.
Multiple reports on Monday said Bettman, the NHL commissioner, suggested the league would cancel the Jan. 1 Winter Classic in mid-November if a new collective-bargaining agreement wasn’t in place by then.
“Mid-November is what, a month and a half away?” Briere bristled after taking part in an informal Flyers practice in Voorhees on Tuesday. “Maybe if he spent less time worrying about who has the upper hand and maybe more time negotiating with the players, maybe more things would get done.”
The 2013 Winter Classic between Detroit and Toronto will be held at Michigan Stadium. Saving that money-making game - and all the goodwill and public relations it creates for the league - would seem to be a bargaining chip in the players’ favor.
The players view Bettman’s threat to cancel the Winter Classic early as a scare tactic because he doesn’t want them to use the game as leverage in negotiations for a new CBA.
“When we see these outside distractions, it’s like, ‘OK, let’s kind of talk (about issues),' ” said veteran winger Jody Shelley, one of a handful of Flyers who was on the ice at the Skate Zone. The threat to cancel the Winter Classic “is not the talk that we need to have right now.”
Both sides are locked in a stalemate on how to divide hockey-related revenue (HRR) and how much revenue sharing is needed to aid struggling franchises.
Representatives of the players and owners will meet Friday and have their first formal negotiating session since Sept. 12 _ three days before the CBA expired and the lockout began.
Friday's meeting in New York City is expected to center around non-core economic issues, such as length of contracts (the owners want a five-year maximum) and the NHL's desire to increase entry-level contracts from three to five years.
“We want to play; we want to get back on the ice,” Briere said. “Being in limbo is not fun, and I’m sure it’s the same thing on their side.”
Briere said more owners need to get involved, and he questioned why Bettman and Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, were the only people allowed to give the league’s point of view.
“Until there are more owners involved, I don’t think it will get anywhere,” he said.
The owners and front-office personnel have been given a gag order, which, if broken, could result in a fine of up to $1 million.
“It’s weird seeing owners not get involved or allowed to talk or say anything,” Briere said. “They’re very savvy businessmen to be where they are, and they’re not allowed to say a word.”
Breakaways. The Phantoms, directed by coach Terry Murray, will have their first on-ice workouts Saturday at 9:15 a.m. as their training camp opens in Voorhees and runs to Oct. 7. The sessions are free and open to the public, and several Flyers who have two-way contracts will be on the ice, including Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn, Eric Wellwood, Erik Gustafsson and Zac Rinaldo. Rinaldo said he wants to concentrate on scoring, not brawling…Schenn played for Murray when he coached the Los Angeles Kings…..The Phantoms will scrimmage Albany, the New Jersey Devils’ affiliate, at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Voorhees….For the first time since they began their informal workouts last week, the Flyers wore jerseys that said “NHLPA” on the front.....Briere is still undecided about whether he will play in Switzerland, or someplace else, during the lockout.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
angry elf!— kdub13- The problem with Briere's argument is the Union Rep they hired could care less about negotiating a deal either. Mr. Cancel a Hockey Season vs Mr. Cancel a World Series? And we wonder why they aren't playing hockey this fall......— co
- I like it! Eff Bettman! He deserves every loud, hearty, obnoxious boo he gets!!!— uncle meat
Man, Danny has balls to point fingers at anyone, they're (players) are just as much a part of this...Cancel it all, I couldn't care less right now. Let them "stew" in their greed.— Fman68- You mean he couldn't care less. If he could care less, that means he cares.— Philly Born
- Thank you. It's either "I couldn't care less" or "as if I could care less". Drives me crazy.
That is all.— 1980 - This lockout isn't about fixing a broken system, isn't about changing and adding to a game to make it more universal to fans in general. This one is purely about money. I'm sorry, but if my boss held a meeting and said, Congratulations, we just had our most successful year ever in terms of money made for the company! Keep up the good work, now to help the situation even better, we are going to cut your wages by 25%....I would be flipping ticked off too. Sorry, I'm 100% on the players side on this one. The owners, NO, BETTMAN can take it and shove it...— cheeseheadflyer
- Expansion ruined the NHL. No markets in Phoenix, Nashville, Columbus, Atlanta (dead). Cut them, and you won't have to worry as much about struggling franchises. Put the Islanders out of their misery too.— gordon7
- This is a totally a labor dispute--millionaire and billionaires, aside. The owners are trying to take a bigger piece of the pie, and the players are just fighting for their fair share. It doesn't matter how much the players earn (even though they earn way too much); the owners are trying to gouge them AGAIN. The players should hold out even if it means killing the season and even the league. If they do make any gains in earnings, the gains should go to charities. Eff the owners. How many owners got life altering head injuries from signing paychecks?— Major Domo Billy Bojangles
- wait, which one is the angry elf, Bettman or Briere?
doesn't matter, no one has watched hockey for years.
out it out of its misery already.
— ekw555 - sports today are a joke. i thought the NHL was a league on the rise. such a shame.— Apollo Creed
- Danny, just come out and say that the players will be the magnanimous ones and take a smaller cut of the pie, admit you make gobs of money playing a sport, and that for the fans sake, the workers who make a month to month living out of the sport, the players will settle with whatever name you want to call the greedy capitalists running the sport. You just added bluster to bluster, and that doesn't get anything resolve. Fire Fehr. Make a deal, and remain very overpaid jocks.— retzlaff
- The players offered to take smaller raises each year until they drop to a 50/50 split. That's not what the NHL asked for. The NHL wants the players to take an immediate 25% pay cut, the same as last time.
The problem is that in the last cba, the owners bet that the league would not grow, and when the league grew, they had to pay the players more. Now they want to make the players pay for the owners' mistake.— Pelti - Any word on moving some Phantom's games to the Wells Fargo Center?— chham57
- Hockey revenue has grown wildly since the last CBA.Rules that have made the game more exciting have also made it more dangerous as seen by the rash of head injuries and concussions.Yet the owners come in with an insulting low ball offer to the players.And Bettman can never have negotiations without a work stoppage.The owners need to realize that the economy is not the same as the last time they had a work stoppage and any lost games or season will result in fans deserting the game for good this time.— BigGerman
