NHL Players, Owners Can’t Agree on Tax

NHL labor talks resumed Friday in Boston with no indication players and owners have resolved their differences over the league’s proposed payroll tax.

The tax, which owners advocate as a way to slow salary growth and players reject as restrictive, was temporarily shelved 10 days ago while progress was made on other issues. They have agreed on a salary cap for entry-level players but disagree on the limit, and have generally agreed to raise the age of eligibility for the entry draft to 20 and permit some 18- and 19-year-olds to enter. However, the NHL Players Assn. has not approved a proposal that would allow clubs to retain the rights to drafted players for three years, instead of the current two-year period.

Players also object to a proposal in which each club would designate one veteran a “franchise player” and retain the right to match free-agent offers made to that player. They say that would limit free agency for top players.

Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHLPA, declined to say whether the tax had been reintroduced. Mike Gartner, president of the union, said the talks were approaching “a critical juncture. “The season continues to be in jeopardy,” he said.

Said Toronto General Manager Cliff Fletcher: “With every passing day it’s one day closer to passing the point of no return. . . . I look at both sides as legitimately interested in getting a deal done.”

However, the tax--which was also designed to help subsidize small-market clubs--looms as a potential deal-breaker. Owners might be willing to reduce the peak rate to 60% from a top of 122%, but players still find that objectionable.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume today. Friday’s meeting was the fifth session in the last nine days. The lockout is in its 57th day.

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In baseball, the players association spent the Thanksgiving two-day holiday period examining the 102-page “tax” proposal offered a week ago by the owners.

Donald Fehr, the executive director of the union, said: “The way they have structured it does not appear markedly different from a salary cap. Behind every number there is another number. It is very complicated.”

Each side will caucus separately on Monday before face-to-face talks resume on Tuesday in Lansdowne, Va.

Soccer

Diego Maradona was fined $472.50 for insulting and trying to kick a referee, the Argentine Football Assn. said. The association fined Maradona, currently coach of Deportivo Mandiyu, for calling referee Angel Sanchez a “thief” and trying to kick him. . . . Netherlands Coach Dick Advocaat will resign to become coach of PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands League, and former Eindhoven coach Guus Hiddink will take over the national team. . . . FIFA, soccer’s governing body, launched a drive to tighten referees’ enforcement of rules, according to general secretary Sepp Blatter, who said referees who don’t comply with the instructions won’t be used any longer in international matches.

Miscellany

Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden defeated defending champions Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and advanced to the semifinals of the ATP Tour Doubles Championships at Jakarta, Indonesia.

But Eltingh and Haarhuis reached the semifinals despite the loss, with a 2-1 record in the round-robin competition.

Track’s world governing body is planning a new anti-drug campaign that includes increased testing of big-name athletes and immediate suspensions after a first positive sample.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation is expected to adopt the proposals at its three-day council meeting in Barcelona, Spain, starting Sunday.

A kidney infection will keep Italian skier Deborah Compagnoni from competing in all three North American races on the women’s World Cup tour which begins today with a giant slalom at Park City, Utah.