GAME ON!

By Elaine Macdonald

The 310 day Hockey drought  is over.  The Board of Governors  for the NHL has ratified the Collective Bargaining agreement already approved by the players association. 
 
The NHL season will start in October, here are some highlights of the deal:

No Club payroll for the 2005-06 season will be less than $21.5 million and no payroll will exceed $39 million -- including all salaries, signing bonuses and performance bonuses. 

Each individual player contract currently in existence will include a 24% reduction of NHL salary for every year of its term 

No individual player salary can exceed 20% of a Club's Upper Limit on payroll.

Accounting of League-wide revenue will be monitored jointly by the NHL and NHLPA. In addition, the League and Players' Association have agreed to create several joint committees that will work together toward the advancement of the game in a variety of areas, including competition, broadcasting and marketing.
The new Agreement also creates, a joint program dealing with the use of Performance-Enhancing Substances. 

Under the deal, every NHL player will be subject to up to two "no notice" tests per year. The first positive test for performance-enhancing substances will result in a mandatory 20-game suspension without pay. A second positive =60-game suspension, and a third means permanent suspension; but  the player would be eligible to apply for reinstatement after two years.

ENHANCED REVENUE SHARING -- if a club ranks in the bottom half of League revenues and operate in markets of 2.5 million TV households or fewer, it will be eligible for subsidies..

ENTRY DRAFT -- The Entry Draft has been reduced to seven rounds from nine, beginning with 2005.

ENTRY-LEVEL SALARY -- The entry-level salary limit is $850,000 for 2005 and 2006 draftees and reaches a high of $925,000 for 2011 draftees. 

MINIMUM SALARY -- The minimum salary has been increased from $185,000 under the previous agreement to $450,000 in 2005-06. It will rise to $500,000 in the final two years of the agreement.

OLYMPICS -- NHL players will participate in the Olympic Winter Games in 2006 (Turin, Italy) and 2010 (Vancouver); no All-Star Game will be played in Olympic years.

RENEGOTIATION -- Player contracts will not be re-negotiated, upward or downward, during their term.

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