TORONTO: The National Hockey League's 2004-05 season remains in jeopardy after league talks with the players' union showed no promise a new labour agreement will be reached before the September deadline.

Both sides said Wednesday's four-hour meeting resulted in little optimism as most of it was spent discussing cost-saving concepts the union said it will not accept because they were all based on a salary cap.

The average annual salary for an NHLer last season was US$1.7 million.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires on September 15, and if a new deal is not reached a lockout could threaten the entire season.

"The only thing they're proposing is something they know is unacceptable to us," said Ted Saskin, the players' association senior director.

"They haven't been willing to engage in any compromise solutions so I can't really have any sense of optimism today."

The NHL, which submitted six "concepts" to the union at a meeting in July, said its models could guarantee profits for club owners and give players a fair share.

A spokesman for the league said the concepts were the ideal way to produce a framework for an economically healthy league that would allow all 30 franchises to be competitive.

According to a study commissioned by the league, 19 of the league's 30 teams had operating losses in 2002-2003 and player costs of 75 per cent of revenue diminish any possibility of restoring a feasible business model.

"Unfortunately, to date, the union has not expressed an interest in exploring any change to the current system that could make that vision a reality," said Bill Daly, NHL executive vice-president and chief legal officer.

"Instead, the union seems exclusively committed to preserving the status quo - or a system which resembles the status quo as closely as possible."

The two sides will meet again on August 17 in New York, less than two months before the National Hockey League's regular season is scheduled to begin on October 13.

(China Daily 08/06/2004 page15)