NHL No Closer To CBA Deal
SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – The news coming out of the stalemate between the NHL and the NHL Players Association continues to be grim and it looks like the next major cancellation for the league will be the annual Winter Classic game.
According to ESPN.com, the NHL is planning on canceling this year's Winter Classic on Thursday. The Winter Classic is an annual outdoor game that was to be played at Michigan Stadium this year in front of as many as 100,000 fans.
The two sides have not resumed negotiations since meetings in Toronto on October 18. The NHL made an offer and the players countered with the framework for three different offers, which the NHL owners rejected in 10 minutes.
The league has already canceled all games until December 1 and more cancelations are likely as early as this week. So far, the NHL has lost 326 games this season alone in the 44-day lockout of the players.
But the NHL has never been one to really care about losing games. Since 1992, the NHL has lost more than 2,000 games due to work stoppages, far and away the most games lost of any major professional sports league. The NHL is also the only major sports league to cancel an entire season in recent history.
Unless both sides begin to back away from the edge of their respective positions, it could be another lost season for the NHL in 2012-2013. The difference is, the league may not have fans in the United States to come back to if they ever start playing hockey again.
