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		Bettman says no progress in NHL lockout By Amaury Pi Gonzalez December 18, 2004
	An Ottawa Senators employee walks into the player's empty dressing room with goaltender Dominik Hasek's equipment sitting on the bench, in Ottawa Thursday Sept 16, 2004. It's the first day the league has locked out its players due to failed contract negotiations.(AP Photo/Tom Hanson) AP
	National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman met with the press Tuesday night in Toronto. There were hopes of the negotiators involved that some progress would take place in the three-month-old NHL lockout, but no one was having any of it. The players have flatly refused to accept a salary cap and the owners refused the 24 percent roll back proposal. Neither side addressed one of the most important issues - television revenue. Although NBC is on deck on a game-by-game contract, that will not be enough security to solidify any deal to keep television revenue coming in. It's a topic that both sides must address. Without a solid TV contract, everything else is academic. Looking from the outside, even with a settlement without a TV agreement, the NHL will be like the NHL of the 1970s in terms of TV coverage - no ESPN, no ABC, and only a Game of the Week-like package from NBC. It's weak. Canada without hockey is not Canada. I can appreciate what the people of Canada are feeling right now without the game. Life has been very difficult for Canadians. The players' bid for a 24 percent rollback on salaries is not enough for Bettman. Along with the owners, Bettman wants a salary cap. It's not clear, but it seems now the puck is on the owners' side. Time is a factor here. Christmas is around the corner and major league sports doesn't do very much around Christmas. By the end of this month if the players and owners don't have anything concrete, I don't how the NHL can start the season. Front office and broadcasters who are involved with the NHL are suffering because they depend on this income. The public relations people in the NHL feel a little displaced because they have to still send out press releases and let everybody know what's going on. San Jose was almost a ghost town, but not anymore. You have the Silicon Valley, the Valley Transit Authority, trolleys that go through downtown, and that area is alive with restaurants and night clubs. But the Sharks are one of the assets and they're not playing in the winter. When the Sharks don't play, they're losing money, but they're also losing because the Arena is empty and they can not rent it because technically, this is still hockey season. Amaury Pi Gonzalez hosts Sportstalk on KVVN 1430 San Jose and KLIB 1110 Sacramento, writes features on this site, and is play by play announcer for the Seattle Mariners and Sana Francisco Giants on Spanish radio.