If you listen to hockey media’s cabal of insiders, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the National Hockey League and its players association are closing in on a new collective bargaining agreement and a Return to Play scheme for the 2020 playoffs.
The key to the whole CBA seems to be fixing escrow. So let’s dive into what escrow is, why the players hate it, and how the new CBA tries to address it.
As a general concept, escrow is a withholding of payment until financial details can be confirmed. In the context of the NHL and NHLPA, it’s related to the confirmation of hockey-related revenues (HRR) for a given season.