Gavin Maloof, George Maloof and Joe Maloof are anxious to sell the Sacramento Kings to pursue another pro sports franchise. (Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

Among the reasons the owners of the Sacramento Kings want to sell the franchise is their pursuit of a Major League Baseball or NHL team — and an agreement to keep their NBA team in Sacramento is not out of the question, according to a report by Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.

The Maloofs — who have already met with NHL Comissioner Gary Bettman — placed a 5 p.m. deadline Friday for a Sacramento-based group of investors to submit a matching offer for the Kings. Seattle investors led by Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer already have an agreement with the Maloofs to buy a majority interest in the Kings for $341 million with the intent of relocating the team to Seattle.

The Maloofs reportedly rejected an offer designed to relocate the Kings to San Jose.

Voisin reports sources close to the Maloofs said the family will accept a matching offer from the Sacramento investors if it satisfies the league’s parameters. The NBA board of governors must approve all sales and relocations.

According to the Bee, the sources said:

• An agreement that keeps the Kings in Sacramento must include reimbursement to Hansen for his $30 million nonrefundable deposit.

• Before being completely surprised by the size of the Hansen/Ballmer offer, the Maloofs had rejected overtures from Ron Burkle and Larry Ellison. Ellison would have attempted to relocate the Kings to San Jose.

• The Maloofs have met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and have for months looked into buying a hockey franchise, with Las Vegas among the possible destinations. Their interests also have expanded and included opportunities in Major League Baseball.

“We’re giving Sacramento every opportunity to keep the team,” one source said Thursday, “but they keep blowing every deadline. We haven’t seen anything in writing.”

Though the NBA clearly wants another franchise in Seattle, which lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City five years ago after similar and protracted arena wranglings, the league is reluctant to abandon Sacramento for a number of reasons, including TV market size (20th), proven viability and history of fan support, potential for economic and population growth, and lack of competition (the Kings are the only major-league sports franchise in town).

The NHLPA began a vote to decide whether a disclaimer of interest is a necessary next step in the lockout. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

NHL players began a vote Thursday night to decide whether they want to again grant authority to their management committee to disclaim interest in their union, according to a report in TSN.

The vote comes after some progress — but apparently not enough — was made in talks between the league’s owners and its players association over the past two days over the ongoing lockout, which has now dragged on for 110 days. The vote began around 6 p.m. ET on Thursday night and will end within the next 48 hours, according to TSN.

The NHLPA’s first vote on the subject passed overwhelmingly, but the deadline to disclaim interest passed without action from management on Wednesday. If least two-thirds of players again vote for the measure and the NHLPA this time decides to disclaim, it could lead to players filing antitrust lawsuits against the league.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said that the “drop dead” deadline for a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement is Jan. 11. That would allow for a 48-game season.

All games through Jan. 14, as well as the All-Star game, have already been canceled.

There are several key issues that remain as roadblocks to a potential agreement, but the three most pressing are player pensions, the league’s salary cap and limits on the length of player contracts. Owners want a second-year salary cap around $60 million, according to TSN. Players want a cap more in the range of $65 million. And owners prefer a six-year limit on player contracts — seven if re-signing with a team — while players want any term limits scrapped.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will meet the NHLPA to discuss counterproposal submitted by the players’ association on Monday. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The NHL and NHLPA met for three hours on Monday, the first time  in more than two weeks that the two sides have had in-person meetings, in order to try to end the ongoing lockout, reports ESPN. The NHLPA submitted a counterproposal to the league Monday, and additional meetings will be held on Tuesday.

“We spent a good part of [Monday] afternoon with the players’ association. They were responding to the proposal we made Thursday and their response was a comprehensive one, dealing with a full slate of issues that we raised and proposals that we put forth, and we’re in the process of reviewing their response,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Monday. “Our expectation is that we’ll contact them [Tuesday] morning and arrange to get back together, hopefully, certainly by midday. We’re going to try and turn this around overnight so we can continue the process.”

Bettman declined to provide any details on the NHLPA offer, beyond calling it “comprehensive.”

Games through Jan. 14 have already been cancelled; the NHL’s last offer indicated that the season needed to start by Jan. 19, and Bettman reaffirmed this position on Monday:

“What we’ve said is we need to drop the puck by Jan. 19 if we’re going to play a 48-game season,” said Bettman. “We don’t think it makes sense to play a season that is any shorter than that.”

After a two-hour meeting with the NHL board of governors, commissioner Gary Bettman said that he is “please with the process that is ongoing” in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

Talks between the owners and players’ association resumed at 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, according to ESPN.com’s Peter LeBrun:

Bargaining slated to resume around 215 pm ET or so… Same group dynamic as yesterday. So no D Fehr or G Bettman—
Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) December 05, 2012

The two sides met for eight hours on Tuesday with six players and 18 owners in the room and Bettman and NHLPA president Donald Fehr absent, according to The Record‘s Tom Gulitti.

The Star-Ledger‘s Rich Chere described two team executives as optimistic:

There is optimism from both the league and its players after two positive days. Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said he was “encouraged” and Columbus Blue Jackets executive John Davidson said, ‘We feel good aboit the information we got.”

Reporters on Twitter, including the Winnipeg Free Press‘ Gary Lawless, have speculated that the league could proceed with a season between 50 and 60 games if a deal is struck this weekend to end the 81-day lockout.

if a deal gets done by the weekend, big if, training camps could open next wednesday and 56-game season would begin on Dec. 20. #bn #nhl—
gary lawless (@garylawless) December 05, 2012

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has agreed to 13 of the NHLPA’s 17 main issues, according to a report. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

While the core issues of the NHL lockout are still being discussed, the two sides have agreed on several terms, according to a Toronto Star report.

Those issues include: moving up the date that teams can sign free agents from July 1 to June 15; allowing cap space to be included in transactions; creating a joint health committee; eliminating re-entry waivers; appointing a third-party arbitrator to deal with appeals for on- and off-ice discipline; and establishing minimum roster requirements.

In total, Commissioner Gary Bettman has agreed to 13 of the NHLPA’s 17 issues, although the smaller agreements are being nullified by the lack of an overall agreement.

“Right now, nothing is agreed on because we won’t agree to anything until we get a deal on core economics,” said one insider familiar with the NHL’s positions. “But this is stuff where we said, ‘Okay, we’ll go there.’ ”

There’s no question the key issues — money (including revenue sharing), contract restraints and who pays for damage caused by the lockout — remain outstanding. Just how far the NHLPA moves, if it does indeed make a substantial new offer, will determine where talks are headed.

The two sides are “getting closer” on several issues, the report states, involving entry-level contracts, AHL salaries, unrestricted free agency and salary arbitration. As the lockout heads toward its 11th week, the sticking points remain revenue sharing and player contract restraints.

The NHL made a new proposal to the players’ union on Tuesday as negotiations to end the ongoing lockout continue, according to CBS Sports. The two sides met on Tuesday in Toronto, and commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that the league had hopes of starting an 82-game season on Nov. 2.

“We very much want to preserve a full 82-game season and in that light we made a proposal, an offer really,” said Bettman. “It is our best shot at preserving an 82-game regular season and playoffs.”

The proposal included a 50/50 split of hockey-related revenue (HRR) in the first year with no salary rollbacks. The league also would make no changes to the definition of HRR, a point of contention in previous discussions. Under the prior CBA, players received 57% of revenues.

Union leader Donald Fehr said the deal is for a minimum of six years but that the players’ association was not in a position to respond yet.

“We, of course…would like to get a full 82-game season in. And, so, what our hope is that after we review this that there will be a feeling on the players’ side that this is a proposal from which we can negotiate and try to reach a conclusion. But, we are not in a position to make any comments about it beyond that at this point.”

Sportsnet’s John Shannon offered additional details on the proposal via Twitter:

Revenue sharing would be at or near 200 million dollars—
John Shannon (@JSportsnet) October 16, 2012

Entry Level Contracts would be 4 years in Length—
John Shannon (@JSportsnet) October 16, 2012

Contract Lengths would be 5 years.—
John Shannon (@JSportsnet) October 16, 2012

The union has scheduled a conference call to discuss the proposal at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

NHL leaders held an unscheduled meeting Friday at the NHL Players’ Association office in Toronto, a day after canceling the first two weeks of regular-season games.

News of the meeting led by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and union leaders Donald and Steve Fehr didn’t become public until it was over.

Bill Daly just confirmed that he was in Toronto to meet withe the NHLPA today. #NHLlockout—
John Shannon (@JSportsnet) October 05, 2012

Mike Brehm and Kevin Allen of USA Today had comments from both sides:

“(The) meeting was regarding trying to move this process forward,” NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said.

“We went up today to see if there was something we could do to encourage them to give us a new proposal,” Daly said in an email. “Anything. Even if it moves us backwards, at least we would have movement.”

NHL and NHLPA leaders said they would stay in contact over the weekend.

“Not sure we will really know whether we made progress until we talk again — likely by phone over the weekend,” Daly said.

Dan Boyle questioned the NHL’s decision to cancel games. (Norm Hall/NHL/Getty Images)

The NHL will claim it had no choice but to cancel the first two weeks of regular-season games, but Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle told CSNBayArea he thinks the owners just want to see the players squirm.

“I don’t think they’re serious about doing anything until we start missing some checks,” Boyle repeated, after skating at Sharks Ice on Thursday morning.

The veteran also takes a dim view of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman needing just eight of 30 votes to veto any CBA proposals.

Boyle, therefore, seems to believe that there is a select group of owners – the big money makers, especially – that are willing to hold up the entire process, ignore other owners that would be more open to the players’ proposal, and cancel more and more games until they get exactly what they want. That includes, of course, an immediate reduction in current player salaries and contracts, something that the union has emphatically stated it would not accept.

“I think when players make comments, sometimes it’s directed towards 30 owners, but I think a lot of us feel that it’s not across the board. It’s a certain group of teams that are controlling 30 others,” Boyle said.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me that eight teams can control the fate of 22 other ones.”

Boyle and Ryane Clowe said last week that the players are prepared to make concessions such as possible caps on contract lengths, or perhaps stricter rules to prevent teams from circumventing the salary cap, but the NHL doesn’t seem to want to listen to  .

“I think we have to give back. There are a lot of things that we need to fix, and we want to give back,” he said. “They say it’s our turn, or whatever, but they don’t want to negotiate until we start missing some checks.”

Boyle sees no reason to believe the lockout will end any time soon.

“I don’t see anything happening for the next couple months. I know that’s very pessimistic of me, and I really hope I’m wrong. But the eight guys…what if there’s 22 teams out there that want to play right now? How do eight teams control their fate? That bothers me the most.”

Some NHL players are critical of commissioner Gary Bettman. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Anaheim Ducks veteran scorer Teemu Selanne has cast his venom on NHL commissioner Gary Bettman regarding the current owners lockout of the players. Selanne’s untranslated comments first appeared on his Finnish blog Salama.

Selanne comes out firing calling Bettman the NHL’s “most hated person,” and blaming him for the league’s labor conflicts.

Selanne wonders if Bettman would be willing to give up his $8 million salary for a year. Bettman and NHLPA director Donald Fehr have said they will not draw their salaries during the lockout.

The Morning Line at Yardbarker reports the translated text.

The Winter Classic, scheduled to be played at Michigan Stadium, could be canceled as late as Jan. 1 — the day of the game — in the event of a lockout. (Dave Reginek/Getty Images)

The NHL could cancel the Winter Classic as late as the day of the game, The New York Times’ Jeff Z. Klein reported on Monday. That means if a lockout occurs, the Winter Classic wouldn’t immediately be in peril, because the league could get back nearly all of the $3 million rental fee at Michigan Stadium. From Klein’s report:

The contract provisions give the league some leeway for salvaging its showcase event should a lockout delay the start of the 2012-13 season, enabling the N.H.L. to hold the Winter Classic even if a lockout is settled in late December. [...]

The N.H.L.’s contract with Michigan, approved by the university’s board of regents on Feb. 9, contains provisions that treat a work stoppage in a way similar to a “force majeure” cancellation brought about by act of God, riot, weather, disaster or any other cause beyond the league’s control.

Next year’s Winter Classic, scheduled for Jan. 1, would pit the Detroit Red Wings against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Klein reported that a lockout looks “increasingly likely” as the NHL Players Association prepares to present a counteroffer to the owners’ proposal on Tuesday. In July, the NHL proposed, among other items, a 20 percent reduction of players’ share of revenues, 24 percent reduction in salaries and limitations on players’ free agency.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires on Sept. 15, and the season is scheduled to start on Oct. 11.

The Times notes that even if a lockout occurs, the Winter Classic could pressure both sides into coming to an agreement because of the popularity and millions of dollars of revenue that come with the annual event.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman took a hard line on CBA talks. (Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

As the NHL and NHLPA negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, commissioner Gary Bettman has thrown a time-frame to the mix.

From ProHockeyTalk.com:

“We reiterated to the union that the owners will not play another year under the current agreement,” Bettman told reporters following Thursday’s meetings.

This statement is significant regarding the agreement’s expiration — Sept. 15. The owners’ stance on not extending the current bargaining agreement means it’s essentially a lockout date.

Previously, NHLPA boss Donald Fehr stated Sept. 15 “is not a magic date unless someone wants to make it so.”

Greg Jamison, who is leading a group to buy the Phoenix Coyotes, is about $20 million short of the necessary funds. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The group trying to buy the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, led by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison, is about $20 million short of the necessary funds to buy the team and keep it in Arizona, according to a report in the Phoenix Business Journal.

The shortage of funds might not serve as a deal-breaker, according to the report, but the deal is currently on “tenuous ice.” From the report:

Jamison is courting new investors and partners to help him cobble together the money and financing needed to purchase the team from the National Hockey League.

The NHL wants $170 million for the Coyotes. The league bought the team in 2009 out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for $140 million.

NHL deputy director Bill Daly told the Phoenix Business Journal there was nothing new on the sale of the Coyotes, but he added that the NHL was “confident” the sale would be completed.

Jamison has been attempting to buy the Coyotes since 2011. In May, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the league was close to a deal with Jamison.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league could take over the New Jersey Devils before August. (Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

The National Hockey League is preparing to take the New Jersey Devils away from current owner Jeff Vanderbeek and the move could happen before August, according to Josh Kosman of the New York Post:

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is preparing to take control of the money-losing hockey franchise in the event Vanderbeek fails to refinance the Devils’ debt before a looming Aug. 14 deadline, The Post has learned.

In recent days, the commissioner’s office has told potential suitors to be ready in case he moves on the team and pushes Vanderbeek aside, a source close to the situation said.

Kosman reported that Vanderbeek is $77 million in debt to investors but is doing everything he can, including selling his majority stake in the Devils, to keep the league from owning the team that lost to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals in June. The original date for putting the team in default was July, but it was moved back to August once the Devils made the Stanley Cup.

In the report, Vanderbeek reportedly told Bettman in May that he’s confident he’ll pull off a deal to keep the team in the next few weeks:

Asked about the Devils before Game 1 of the finals last month, Bettman said Vanderbeek “is working to both refinance the debt on the club and equity-raise, and he appears to be fairly confident that he can pull this off in the next few weeks.”

Although Vanderbeek has until August 14 to reach a deal, Bettman is likely to give him only a few more weeks, according to Kosman, so that if the league does in fact have to assume ownership of the Devils, potential buyers will have ample time to dig into the team’s books and make an offer to lenders.