Bettman: Lockout Is Avoidable

Enough time remains for the NHL and the players’ association to avert a lockout, Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday, brushing aside suggestions their differences can’t be bridged before the Sept. 15 expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement.

“I think people shouldn’t get too wrapped up in the process,” said Bettman, who took a break from league marketing meetings in Huntington Beach to attend the Mighty Ducks’ game against Edmonton at the Arrowhead Pond.

“Collective bargaining is a process and there’s more than ample time to do what has to be done. I’m not focused on a work stoppage. I’m focused on making a deal. I’m hoping at the right time the union will be prepared to address the issues and a deal will be done.”

The league and the NHLPA haven’t had formal talks since Oct. 1, when players rejected a league proposal they contended would have imposed a hard salary cap. Since then, Bettman said he has had perhaps two face-to-face meetings with Bob Goodenow, the union’s executive director, but said the lines of communication remained open.

Bettman also said he had not received a response from the NHLPA to the release of a league-commissioned report that supported his claims teams lost nearly $300 million last season. The yearlong financial analysis, spearheaded by former Securities and Exchange chairman Arthur Levitt, found that teams were spending more than three-quarters of their revenues on player costs, too high a portion to operate profitably.

“The best thing about the Levitt report is ... there’s no dispute over what our economic situation is,” Bettman said.

He said the marketing meetings, which conclude today, were proceeding with the idea that all was business as usual and added that potential advertisers, licensees, sponsors and fans have confidence “they know [the economic imbalance] is going to get fixed.”