nhlNHL lockout: Gary Bettman offers 50-50 split of hockey revenue to salvage 82-game season
Published on Tuesday October 16, 2012
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Video: Bettman makes a 50-50 offer
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman proposed a deal to try to save an 82-game season.

Gary Bettman
Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS “We believe it is our best shot at preserving an 82-game regular-season and playoffs,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, told reporters during a break in talks with the union.

Gary Bettman
Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS “We believe it is our best shot at preserving an 82-game regular-season and playoffs,” Bettman told reporters during a break in talks with the union.
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Kevin McGran
Sports Reporter
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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called it his “best shot” to save the season. NHL Players’ Association executive director Donald Fehr called it an “excellent starting point.”
But there’s movement — real movement — to save the NHL season.
Bettman surprised many Tuesday when he offered an across-the-board 50-50 split on hockey-related revenue with the league’s locked-out players.
Changing the conversation immediately from that disastrous focus-group leak that gave the players the moral high ground, Bettman laid out a proposal envisioning an 82-game season and full playoffs that would see the Stanley Cup decided before the end of June.
“We made a proposal . . . that is our best shot at preserving an 82-game regular season and playoffs,” said Bettman. “We believe that this was a fair offer for a long-term deal, and it’s one that we hope gets a positive reaction so that we can drop the puck on Nov. 2 — which, backing up, entails at least a one-week training camp. So we have about nine or 10 days to get this all put to bed, signed, sealed and delivered, in order for this offer to be effective and for us to move forward.”
The league’s proposal would see training camps open Oct. 25 or 26, and teams would play one extra game every five weeks to squeeze in what’s been missed so far.
So the pressure was placed firmly on the players, who held a conference call to discuss just what was in the NHL offer.
“It’s not