January 2004 Shortly after the strike ended I began writing what was to be the next PLPA Newsletter and before I knew it, there was four pages without even providing extensive detail. I know it is a stretch to think that everyone would get through it so I have decided to capsulate the rendition as best I can into one page. For those of you who want a little more detail, see the players login page on our website.

To begin with, we need to review our position of 7 years ago in Brantford, Ontario when we chose to move our allegiance and support for separate and experienced ownership. Looking at much of the problems experienced by the league and the PA over the past few years, it was clearly surrounding those franchises with ownerships that did not have that experience or connections. The league likes to claim that it was their idea to move in this direction but it all began when our executive committee forced the divestiture from the start. The model is being further tested this year and should prove to be telling.

Back in October at our AGM, extensive discussion took place on our objectives moving forward. Not only did we dissect the league's proposal but also we prioritized and strategized what our objectives would be. We also made it clear that negotiations moving forward would address the satisfaction of those outstanding payments to players (over 25% of players) which would need to be satisfied. We also ranked our objectives by levels of priority. The following items were ranked number 1 in importance: Elimination of Non-Dress Pay, Line of Credit, Raising of Team Salary Cap, Maintenance of current minimums and relocation expense protection. This season's agreement sorted out as follows: The Non-Dress provision was eliminated, the league indicated that each Team is required to carry at least a $50,000 line of Credit; we fought off the leagues attempt to drop both the minimum cap and the maximum cap, Relocation expenses have taken care of themselves with many of the players being relocated, housed and employed. These were the four high priority issues and with the exception of the team cap raising, all were accomplished. As far as the team cap, interestingly, many of the clubs once forced to make offers to the players before we agreed on a deal, offered many more players the max in order to persuade them to sign. We will shortly be calculating the league wide average and we are certain that the results will be impressive. It now becomes more important to get the bar raised on salaries.

Back to negotiations, it is important to mention that at the very first session in Buffalo we proposed working off the expired contract with improvements for the short-term, while negotiations continued toward a multi-year agreement. This was responded to as follows: " your proposal is B____ S____. We want to discuss our proposal not yours". Let me remind you quickly what the league was proposing: 7 year deal; Payment in Canadian Funds; A payment plan that started at $200 per game (no guarantee of increases) - Canadian if the player was Canadian; All pay to include missed work, expense reimbursement and practice pay; Reduction in playoff pay; restriction on off season play; elimination of arbitration provision; Addition of 3rd franchise player designation; 10 free appearances; No limit on free exhibition games just to mention a few of the negative changes. There weren't any positive changes. It should be noted that the last session started with us saying the same thing as the first session; "we can play off the old contract with some improvements for a one year deal." The league walked out on the next day after about five minutes. Thus the total time spent at the table amounted to little more than four days, with the League curtailing two of the three sessions.

I feel that the league was testing the players to see if the " I just want to play" and the "ulterior motive player" players were prevalent enough to convince the other players to cross the line. Well the test was a successful one for the Players. Thanks to the hard work of the Player Reps and Alternate Reps, especially those on the negotiating committee (Gee Nash, Pat O'Toole, John Rosa, Tim Soudan, John Tavares) and your unwavering support, we have come of age as a Union. We will again shortly be going back to the table and will need to re-establish our priorities. We will be circulating a new questionnaire shortly. When you receive it please take the time to fill it thoroughly with thought. We will rely on your input. Dave Succamore, Ron Jaros and I take our jobs very seriously and greatly appreciate the faith you have shown in us. We hope you realize we have the interest of the players and the game in our hearts and minds. Good Luck this season and stay involved.

• 1st year players- are being offered $200 per game, that's $200 per game Canadian dollars for players that reside in Canada whether they play for a Canadian or American based team. They are pointing to a theory called "Purchase Power Parity" which ties the exchange rates in equilibrium when their purchasing power is the same in the two countries. An unproven concept that has never been implemented in any sport.

• The dollars would be in Canadian currency if you reside in Canada regardless of what team you play for.

***Compensation for Practice, bonuses, promotional, travel and work loss would be included in Salary

• A new term introduced called a "core player" which describes a player with more than three or years of service, which MAY enable a player with more than three years of service to be paid between $10,000* and $18,000*. Each team can choose UP TO ten players to be "Core".

• $40 game per diem flat rate paid in nation incurred.

• Players paid on a per game basis

• Veteran Player becomes a Veteran in 3rd year, previous CBA veteran status was 2nd year

• Discipline: no arbitration provision, Commissioner determines the outcome in his sole discretion that can't be appealed.

• Limitations on the Players Activities in the Off Season. - They seem to think that we are full time.

• 10 Free appearances on behalf of the league

• Teams can designate an additional player taking the number of Franchise Designation to three and potentially dropping a player's salary to $19,000*.

• No limit on the number of Exhibition games and no compensation other than per diem.

• Clubs losing an Unrestricted Free Agent will receive a first round draft pick from the signing team - thereby diminishing their value by increasing the cost on the interested club.

• Seven year Contract with salary increases tied to 10% of each clubs proportionate share of the Leagues NET television, merchandising and sponsorship revenue which has amounted to virtually nothing in the last few years. They also propose an increase based on the Consumer Price Index which has been in the area of 3% per annum for the last five years.

• A team cap between $165,000 and $250,000, which is considerably below the current team's payroll when the player's salaries are added up which averaged $185,000 for all the current teams with a high of $305,000.

Larry Landon, Executive Director of the Professional Hockey Players Association, fresh out of wrapping up a contentious negotiation with the East Coast Hockey League, had many constructive recommendations to the Executive Board and Player reps of the PLPA this past weekend. "His message resonated with the players" said PLPA President Peter Schmitz. "We were grateful to Larry for taking the time to come to Toronto to talk with us. His inspirational message of solidarity and support got our meeting off on the right foot. He is a terrific leader and we are fortunate to have an ally in him and the PHPA".

September 2003 Contract negotiations are slowly coming to fruition. We have made it clear to the NLL Office that the contract we have in place needs to be adhered to and the gross violation of the contract by a few member clubs is simply inexcusable. We have recently received a proposal from the league, which is not worth even responding to in the opinion of the Executive Committee.

It is at this time that we need to once again remind each of you of the business we are in. There is a certain amount of available dollars that result from the playing of games and the selling of other revenue generating opportunities that come from the sport. The age-old question is what percentage should the players get for playing and what percentage does the league get for the risk and the management of the club and the sport. In it's basic form that is what we need to resolve.

The League will point to the failures of four clubs with two others struggling in the last two years to justify some kind of rate decrease. We will point out that these owners where not focusing or inexperienced at running professional sports franchises and were destined for failure. The point is that the league has a formula that is working and it's not that complicated, involve a pro franchise that has control of the arena or at least a preferential lease deal, a marketing staff in place, cross promotional opportunities with a sister franchise from another sport not too mention all the other revenue generating opportunities like parking and concessions.

These are critical ingredients to the success of the league. The fact that the sport has experienced substantial geographic disbursement may also offer better options for league wide sponsorship and television which are both the necessary to make the next leap to credibility and hence better opportunities for all.

Ok, so where does that leave us heading into the next contract? With these variables still somewhat unrealized, how do we tinker with the contract to alleviate the logjam of issues that have arisen between the players and some of the owners? We feel that the most critical element to focus on going into the next contract is to finally eliminate the Non Dress player designation. The problems that we have experienced with some of the owners this year were further complicated and exacerbated by the inability of the players and the PA to determine the salaries and other expenses owing. Many of the clubs neglected to give a breakdown of the deductions making it next to impossible to determine how much was paid and how much was owed. In each instance when the PA complained about the lack of adherence to the contract with equal installments to be made, they claimed it couldn't be done because of the non-dress player issue complicating the payment. This year for the first time, the league negated any contract that called for a player to be paid dress status whether he played or not. This was obviously done for a reason that I will let you figure out for yourselves.

We are reminded that the players leverage lies solely in their willingness not to play the game they love, ironically to gain strength to get paid what is their fair share. It is the solidarity between every player and the Executive Committee that gives us the bargaining advantage we need to approach negotiations. There can be no dissention and criticism of the PA. We must act with one voice. This is not to say that each of you don't have a responsibility to get involved and that can be done by communicating regularly with your Player Rep and emailing the PA. It is our job to assemble the responses we received from the questionnaire, prioritize and arrange in a presentation to the league's negotiating committee. What is important to a twenty-year-old player may not be as important to a 35-year-old player and vice versa. This is the difficult part of formulating our conditions. We recognize that not everyone will be satisfied but the bottom line is that we are all on the same team and that needs to remembered at all times.

This year our Annual General Meeting will be held outside of Toronto. We have decided to have it here because the majority of the players live in areas surrounding Toronto and we need to have you attend if at all possible on the weekend of October 3. The league will be sending their negotiating committee and we hope to make progress.

While it is never our intension to call for a work stoppage, we would be remiss in not mentioning that it always exists when going in to contract negotiations. It is our leverage. This means that we need to present a united front in the event that it is determined that a work stoppage is necessary. To that end, we will need to be able to get in touch with you at all times. Training camp traditionally takes place in early October and we will know shortly whether we will be supporting attendance. While we hope that the league and the PA will be largely on the same page going forward, we must be prepared for the alternative.

I would like to thank a few people for the efforts this past year, thanks to Yvette for updating the website and the player database not too mention getting the PA out there in the public eye with some charitable events. Thanks to Brian Vona for his service not only as treasurer but also as a key member of the negotiating committee in the past three CBA's. We'll miss his candor and insight in negotiations. Another key contributor this year has been Jason Jaros, part of our PA counsel, who has quietly amassed a fantastic record with our arbitration hearings. A special thanks to Dave Succamore for his unwavering support for the PA. His efforts go largely unnoticed by many but those of you who have needed his help recognize his invaluable contributions to the players.

To finish, while the league has lost some member clubs and therefore some jobs for our bargaining unit, I feel optimistic that the state of the league has never been stronger. We have quality ownership groups in most areas under the new formula and I feel our best days are ahead. We must realize that it is not us that need to sacrifice for the good of the league. There is a certain amount of credibility that the league needs by treating you as professionals and that element cannot be overlooked and therefore you need to be paid like your professionals. Stay tuned and be involved. Communicate with your reps before you believe rhetoric laid out by the league. We are all on the same side.