The seven national federations and their respective leagues (Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland) met with the IIHF to ratify the agreement and to decide on a distribution model that would see the European countries split the development compensation money from the NHL between the national federations and the clubs which lose players to the US league.
The federations and leagues of the seven countries asked for a ten-day period to finally ratify the IIHF/NHL-deal and agreed meanwhile on a proposition for a distribution model.
The deal, which begins with the 2001/2 season, will see the NHL pay a rising scale of payments to the IIHF. First season payment will be $9m (B9.8m) – based on an estimated 70 players leaving, rising to $9.6m (B10.4m) the following season, and $10.2m (B11.1m) the season after that.
“I am very satisfied that we were able to agree on what should be the final proposition for the distribution model”, said IIHF president RenC) Fasel. “I am especially happy that the federations and leagues recognised that players who carry very special potential – and those are usually picked in the first round – can generate more compensation for their clubs than players with less potential or average skill.”
A three-year agreement between the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the NHL over compensation payments for players leaving IIHF-federations to find their fortune in the big money US league, is on the verge of being ratified.
