NHL makes second proposal to players

The NHL’s second major proposal to players, made during labor negotiations Tuesday in New York, centered on a six-year deal in which players’ percentage of hockey-related revenue would fall from 57% last season to below 50% during the third year of the agreement before leveling off at a 50-50 split in the final three seasons, according to several published reports.

USA Today reported the proposal made to the NHL Players’ Assn. also redefined some hockey-related revenue and called for gradually phasing in broader revenue-sharing provisions. Players’ share of revenue would be 51.6% in 2012-13, 50.5% in 2013-14 and 49.6% in 2014-15 before hitting the 50-50 mark. The salary cap, which was $64.3 million last season and was set to reach $70.2 million next season, instead would be $58 million next season before rising to $60 million and then $62 million the following two seasons.

“We believe that we made a significant, meaningful step,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters after the second of two sessions held Tuesday at the league’s Manhattan offices.

Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHLPA, said the NHL’s move was “a proposal we intend to respond to” after players had a chance to analyze it. That response is expected on Wednesday, when talks are scheduled to continue in New York.

The current collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the players’ union expires on Sept. 15 and the league has said it will lock players out if a new agreement is not in place.

— Helene Elliott

ETC.

Former Penn State leaders blast Freeh

Former Penn State faculty leaders blasted the NCAA and former FBI Director Louis Freeh over their handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, saying Freeh’s report — prepared for the university — and the NCAA’s $60 million in fines unfairly punish the entire university community.

The scholars said Freeh used “scant evidence” to support conclusions that the NCAA then relied upon and embellished to set sanctions that harmed not just the athletic department but Penn State’s academic well-being and financial health.

“On a foundation of scant evidence, the report adds layers of conjecture and supposition to create a portrait of fault, complicity, and malfeasance that could well be at odds with the truth,” said the statement, signed by 29 past chairs of the faculty senate.

Texas A&M; and Louisiana Tech postponed Thursday night’s season opener in Shreveport because of Hurricane Isaac’s forecast path through Louisiana.

The game has been rescheduled for Oct. 13, which had been an open date for both teams.

Three men accused of assaulting Wisconsin running back Montee Ball were arrested, nearly a month after the Heisman Trophy finalist suffered a concussion during an early-morning attack near campus.

The three 21-year-old men from Madison are facing battery charges but haven’t been formally charged, according to a police report.

Authorities have said Ball suffered a concussion when he was attacked by several men in Madison on Aug. 1.

Police have said the attack may have been related to an altercation at a house party that Ball attended a few days earlier, though detectives said they have no evidence suggesting Ball was involved in that fight.

Purdue suspended starting linebacker Dwayne Beckford indefinitely.

A federal judge in Dallas ordered former Cowboys and Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd to be jailed indefinitely for failing two drug tests and allegedly buying drugs while already facing charges he tried to distribute marijuana and cocaine.

An associate of Floyd Mayweather Jr. was sentenced to two to five years in prison for shooting at two men in a car after they argued with the champion boxer at a Las Vegas skating center.

Ocie Harris, 30, of Chicago could have faced up to 18 years in prison after pleading an equivalent of no contest to three felony charges in the Aug. 23, 2009, shooting outside Crystal Palace Skate Center.