To begin the NHL’s return to play for 2020 back in July, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to both the terms of the bubble and a new CBA that took the cash-crunch realities of the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration. The teams would continue to lose out on ticket sales and concessions while the teams were in the bubble, and it was expected that with a delayed 2020-2021 season start, they’d continue to lose out on revenue at least through December.
The league and its players agreed to a 10% salary deferment of this upcoming season’s pay; escrow payments were also capped at 20% for this upcoming season, with the cap decreasing to six percent for the last three seasons of the CBA.