Overview
- Late on Dec. 27, the PHPA and ECHL announced a tentative collective bargaining agreement subject to member ratification and approval by the ECHL Board of Governors, with players set to report in good faith pending those steps.
- Players began a strike on Dec. 26 after months of stalled talks, triggering at least 13 game postponements across the 30‑team league and creating patchwork team responses before schedules were suspended.
- Union priorities centered on compensation, limits on back‑to‑back travel, guaranteed days off and a holiday break, safer and properly fitted equipment, and year‑round health coverage, alongside an unfair labor practice filing over alleged direct league communications to players.
- The league’s latest ‘last, best, and final’ offer touted an immediate 19.8% salary‑cap increase with retroactive pay, higher per diems, mandatory rest provisions, expanded equipment options, and proposals addressing travel and seasonal breaks.
- Teams including Cincinnati, Orlando, Norfolk and Worcester saw games postponed, and rescheduling plans remain unsettled until the tentative agreement is ratified and approved.