edit a research proposal

Negotiations Assignment 2

NHL Lockout 2004/05

Background of conflict situation

In the year 2004 the collective bargaining agreement between the NHLPA (National Hockey League Players Association) and the NHL (National Hockey League) expired. On February 16, 2005, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that due to the inability of the league owners and its players’ union, the NHLPA, to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, the 2004-05 NHL season will be cancelled, the first time in major American professional sports history that a league has had an entire season wiped out due to a labor dispute, and the first time since 1919 that the league’s coveted Stanley Cup trophy will not be awarded. The aim of this assignment is to provide an analysis of the negotiation processes regarding the arbitration of this dispute.

Sections & Authors

Background & Lockout

This section will reveal background information about the Lockout in the season 2004-05. Furthermore a basic knowledge about the National Hockey League and its structure will be conveyed. Conclusively the roles of the NHL and the player association, as well as the historical tensions between those two players will be explored in depth.

Cause

This section is going to cover the causes of the 2004/05 lockout. The tremendous increase in players’ salaries as well as the lower television ratings and right fees, which led to a tense financial situation, will be briefly touched on in this paragraph

Issues/Negotiation

This section deals with the different issues concerning the bargaining table of the NHL Lockout 2004/2005. One of the main issues was the league’s desire for cost certainty, provided by a maximum team salary cap linked to the league revenues. Furthermore this section examines the Negotiation Strategies conducted by both parties.

Impact

This section treats the subsequent financial impacts on the NHL-teams, its staff and also the local / state / city government (who often times owned the stadiums).

Settlement & Concluding Thoughts

On July 13 the two parties finally settled on a 6-year collective bargaining agreement. The NHL and the NHLPA agreed to salary caps of 39 million dollar per franchise, with a player compensation limited to 54 percent of league revenues .

In this part of the paper, we will focus on the final settlement the two parties agreed on. Being a nearly 600-page agreement, we will focus on the most important and obvious terms in the new contract and try to determine which side of the negotiation conflict came out favourably….and how sustainable the agreement was/is?

Analytical Models / Theories & Tools to be used

The negotiation between those two parties will be analyzed according to the following models and theories:

· 5 Forces-Analyses

· Radpac Model

· Pattern of Concession Making

· The Dual Concerns Model

· Conflict-Model

· The Agreement Circumplex

Sources

· http://proicehockey.about.com/od/nhlfreeagents/a/04_arbitration.htm

· http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB109527402265118729

· http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26366

· Lewicki, Saunders and Barry, 2011. Essentials of Negotiation. McGraw Hill.

· Various research reports

�The case itself is fine. There is a wealth of material from both sides plus academic negotiation analyses and case studies available

�Don’t forget to consider the relational and procedural aspects of the agreement.

�Which tools in which section?

�This list is insufficient.

You should significantly increase the number and quality fo sources and allocate these to the relevant sections and authors