From NHL.com:
NHL, NHLPA reach agreement in principle on new CBA
NEW YORK/TORONTO (July 13, 2005) – The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association have reached an agreement in principle on the terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Details of the new Agreement will not be made available publicly pending the formal ratification process by the NHLPA Members and the NHL Board of Governors.
It is anticipated that the ratification process will be completed next week, at which time the parties will be prepared to discuss the details of the Agreement and plans for next season. No further comment will be made until then.
Game On!
Update: Obviously, the NHL has to do ALOT to recover from missing last season. Apparently, HDTV is one of the things they are thinking about:
The NHL, which claims that hockey fans are the most technologically savvy of all pro sports fans, will focus a portion of its marketing energies on the cyber world. It will also work to improve the at-home experience for an ever-waning television audience, employing new camera angles, microphones on players and coaches and the use of high definition television production.
“The opportunities that exist for us with high definition television are enormous,” [NHL Group VP of Communications Bernadette] Mansur said.
[Scott Burnside, ESPN.com, NHL Marketing Challenges Lie Ahead]
I’m hard pressed to say that getting HDTV would make the lockout “worth it” but it sure would lessen the sting.