Sports Law Blog Exclusive: Proposal by Professor Joseph Rosen to Resolve the NHL Lockout



Joe Rosen, a corporate, sports and entertainment attorney at Goulston & Storrs and an adjunct professor of sports law at Boston College Law School, has the following suggestion to resolve the NHL lockout:

"A luxury tax, like the one the union has proposed, along with the cut in salaries, but there would be additional non-financial penalties for teams that spend over the prescribed limit. Two things that come to mind are the loss of draft picks and the inability to keep restricted free agents "restricted" any longer.

For example, let's say the cut-off was $42 million (as the league proposes). If a team spent between $42 and $45 million, it would lose a late round draft pick. The more and more a team spends, the higher a draft pick that team loses. Teams that spend over a high set amount could lose multiple picks, or, possibly, lose the right to keep one of their restricted free agents "restricted" any longer.

The details would obviously have to be etched out some more, but I believe this could work and set the framework for the rest of the negotiations. The league's main concern is that, under the union's proposal, teams would be free to exceed the luxury tax threshold. They would just have to pay $, which some big-spending teams would certainly elect to do.

I think my suggestion would solve this problem. I can't believe teams would be willing to spend much more than the threshold if they were going to lose draft picks and, possibly, players.

I also think the union would go for this since (i) they would be avoiding a straight salary cap and (ii) some of their restricted free agents might actually become unrestricted under this scenario."

Joe would welcome any comments or feedback on this idea, either on this blog, or you can contact him directly at jrosen@goulstonstorrs.com or (617) 877-3837. In my opinion, this appears to be an attractive solution, since it would deter most teams from spending above a certain threshold--and thus largely accomplish the owners' goals--but it wouldn't prove to be the "hard-cap" that is incompatible with the players' belief-system. What do you think?

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