Golf-McIlroy breaks with first sponsor, Nike waits in wings

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - World number one golfer Rory McIlroy has parted company with his first corporate sponsor ahead of confirmation of a deal that will make him the new face of sportswear giant Nike.
U.S. PGA champion McIlroy is poised to rubber-stamp a 10-year deal with U.S. company Nike worth as much as $250 million, according to media reports.
Nike is set to supply the 23-year-old Northern Irishman's clubs and have its name or logo on his clothing in an exclusive deal.
The Dubai-based hotel company Jumeirah Group said on Tuesday that its five-year sponsorship with 2011 U.S. Open champion McIlroy had ended.
"Jumeirah became my first corporate sponsor when I turned professional back in 2007 and I would like to thank everyone at the company for their support in helping me become the player I am today," McIlroy said in a news release.
The player, who topped the money-lists on both sides of the Atlantic last year, said in November he did not think that ditching the Titleist clubs that have taken him to the top of the sport would affect his game.
Nike is hoping a partnership with the clean-cut McIlroy will help it to move on after it dropped disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong last year over his doping scandal.
The company stuck with former world number one golfer Tiger Woods despite the bad publicity the American suffered when a series of extra-marital affairs were exposed in 2009.

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H&R Block 2Q loss narrows as revenue rises

 H&R Block's fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed, helped by cost-cutting efforts. Revenue climbed mostly because of a strong tax season in Australia.
The nation's largest tax preparation company typically turns in a loss in the August-to-October period because it takes in most of its revenue during the U.S. tax season. H&R Block's quarterly performance beat analysts' estimates and its stock hit the highest level in more than two years.
The company is optimistic and gearing up for its busy season.
"The U.S. tax season is right around the corner and we believe we're on pace to deliver significant earnings and margin expansion in fiscal 2013," President and CEO Bill Cobb said in a statement on Thursday.
For the three months ended Oct. 31, H&R Block Inc. lost $105.2 million, or 39 cents per share. A year earlier it lost $141.7 million, or 47 cents per share, for the quarter.
Its loss from continuing operations was 37 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a bigger loss of 41 cents per share.
Selling, general and administrative expenses declined and the quarter was free of any impairment charges. The prior-year period included a $4.3 million impairment charge.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $137.3 million from $129.2 million. This topped Wall Street's forecast of $129.6 million.
Shares of H&R Block gained 89 cents, or 5.1 percent, to close at $18.26. Earlier in the session the stock reached $18.40, its highest point since May 2010.
Tax services revenue increased 7 percent primarily due to the strong Australian tax season. Corporate revenue fell because of lower interest income from H&R Block Bank's shrinking mortgage loan portfolio.
H&R Block disclosed in October that it hired Goldman Sachs to help it explore options for its banking arm, H&R Block Bank. Those options, Block said, could result in the company no longer being regulated as a savings and loan holding company by the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve announced some proposed rules in June that would impose higher capital requirements on savings and loan holding companies. H&R Block contends that if the proposed rules are enacted it would have to hold on to significant additional capital.
H&R Block, based in Kansas City, Mo., prepared 25.6 million tax returns worldwide in fiscal 2012.

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Oregon governor says Nike plans to hire thousands

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Sporting goods giant Nike plans to expand its operations in Oregon and hire as many as 12,000 new workers by 2020 but wants the government to promise it won't change the state tax code, prompting a special session of the Legislature.
Gov. John Kitzhaber said he'll call lawmakers together Friday in Salem to create a new law authorizing him to grant Nike's wish.
The governor did not release information about the company's expansion plans but the $440 million project would create 2,900 construction jobs with an annual economic impact of $2 billion a year.
Nike Inc. has its headquarters in Beaverton. Company officials could not immediately be reached.
The Legislature is due to meet in its regular annual session beginning Jan. 14, but Kitzhaber said Nike needed certainty sooner. The company was being wooed by other states, he said.
"Getting Oregonians back to work is my top priority," Kitzhaber said in a news conference.
Either the governor or the Legislature itself can call lawmakers into session at times other than the state Constitution specifies.
For much of the state's history, the Legislature's regular sessions have been held every other year, at the beginning of odd-numbered years. That's the kind of session the Legislature is scheduled to begin early next year.
In recent years, the Legislature has moved to meet annually, running test sessions of briefer sessions in even-numbered years. Those led to voter approval of a constitutional amendment in 2010 that called for annual sessions.
Records list 38 special sessions since Oregon's statehood, ranging from one day on eight occasions to 37 days in 1982.

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Tax filing delay looms if no fix for minimum tax: IRS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. tax collector warned on Thursday of a delayed start to 2013's tax season if Congress fails to reset the alternative minimum tax (AMT) on high-income taxpayers so that it does not sweep in millions of middle-income people.
Without another adjustment by lawmakers soon to the AMT, "many of us will see a delayed filing season," said Steven Miller, named just last month as Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner.
Miller did not give an exact date by which Congress must approve an AMT "patch" to prevent a delay to the tax season, which is scheduled to begin on January 22.
"We don't have any drop-dead time in mind," Miller told reporters after a speech at a conference in Washington.
But his remarks came on a day of continued stalemate in Washington between Democrats and Republicans over what to do about the "fiscal cliff" approaching at the end of the year.
The AMT is a crucial part of the assorted tax increases and automatic spending cuts that make up the so-called "cliff," a convergence of events that, absent congressional action, threatens to plunge the U.S. economy back into recession.
"Many people don't realize that they could potentially face a significantly delayed filing season and a much bigger tax bill for 2012," if the AMT is not dealt with, Miller said.
"In programming our systems, the IRS has assumed that Congress will patch the AMT as Congress has for so many years.
"And I remain optimistic that the fiscal cliff debate will be resolved by the end of the year. If that turns out not to be the case, then what is clear is that many of us will see a delayed filing season," Miller said.
The AMT is a tax intended to make sure that at least some tax is paid by high-income people who otherwise could sharply reduce or eliminate their regular income tax bills through using tax loopholes. About 4 million people annually pay the AMT.
Unlike the regular income tax, the AMT is not indexed for inflation. So the thresholds that determine who must pay the tax have to be regularly raised. This prevents the AMT from hitting middle-class people whose incomes may have crept upward on the back of inflation, but who are not wealthy.
Congress last patched the AMT in late 2010. Without another patch, the AMT could hit as many as 33 million people for the 2012 tax year, according to the IRS.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said on Thursday he is "hopeful" that the AMT problem will be fixed with a broader "fiscal cliff" resolution before December 31.
Republicans in Congress may see the AMT as leverage in their "fiscal cliff" negotiations with President Barack Obama and the Democrats.
The IRS might have until mid-January to implement an AMT patch and still start the tax season on time, if Congress approves the fix as expected, said Richard Harvey, a tax professor at Villanova University and a former IRS official.
The AMT "is a ticking time bomb that is going to go off some time in January," Harvey said.

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Cricket-Wade's sparkling century hauls Australia to lead of 138

SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - A brilliant century from Matthew Wade gave Australia a first innings lead of 138 when they declared at 432 for nine just before lunch on the third day of the third test against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Openers Dimuth Karunaratne (17 not out) Tillakaratne Dilshan (0) ushered the tourists to the end of the session on 18 without loss and reduced the deficit to 120 but the morning belonged to wicketkeeper Wade.
The 25-year-old lefthander, playing in just his ninth test, resumed on 47 with Australia just 48 runs ahead of Sri Lanka's first innings tally of 294.
It has been anything but a chanceless innings but Wade comfortably reached his third test half century in the second over of a brilliantly sunny day at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Peter Siddle was also playing a few shots at the other end as the pair put on 77 for the seventh wicket but it was the sheer power of Wade's strokes that caught the eye.
Siddle was caught behind for 38 off Nuwan Pradeep 50 minutes into the session and Mitchell Starc lasted just five further minutes before departing for two, trapped lbw by spinner Rangana Herath.
When Nathan Lyon departed 10 minutes later for four - bowled through the gate by Herath - it looked like the last rites for Australia's innings at 393 for nine, just 99 runs ahead.
Wade, who was on 70, had other ideas and with Jackson Bird (6) offering support with his first test runs at the other end, he bludgeoned his way to his second test century.
He reached the mark by smashing his ninth four to deep cover and then raced around the ground, arms stretched wide, to take the applause of the crowd in an emotional celebration.

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Cricket-Sri Lanka 225-7 (& 294) v Australia (432-9dec) - close

SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka reached 225-7 in their second innings at close of play on the third day of the third test against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Scores: Sri Lanka 225-7 (Dimuth Karunaratne 85, M. Jayawardene 60) & 294 (Lahiru Thirimanne 91, M. Jayawardene 72; J. Bird 4-41, M. Starc 3-71) Australia 432-9 dec (M. Wade 102 not out, P. Hughes 87, D. Warner 85, M. Clarke 50; R. Herath 4-95) (Editing by John O'Brien)

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UPDATE 3-Cricket-Australia on verge of Sri Lanka series sweep

* Sri Lanka lead by 87
* Wade scores sparkling century
* Karunaratne falls short of maiden ton (Adds quotes)
SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Australia were on the verge of a 3-0 series sweep after reducing Sri Lanka to 225 for seven with a slender lead of 87 at close of play on a dramatic third day of the third test on Saturday.
The hosts dominated the morning courtesy of a sparkling unbeaten century from Matthew Wade before declaring at 432-9 with a first innings lead of 138 just before lunch.
The tourists stormed back in the second session on the back of a century partnership between Dimuth Karunaratne (85) and skipper Mahela Jayawardene (60) to fleetingly raise the prospect of a first ever Sri Lanka test win in Australia.
Karunaratne fell short of his maiden test century soon after tea with his country still six runs in arrears, however, and Sri Lanka then crumbled to lose six wickets for just 93 runs.
At stumps, Dinesh Chandimal (22) and Rangana Herath (9) were at the crease facing a huge task to extend the lead and make Australia's chase anything more than a formality.
"It could have gone pear-shaped quickly," Wade told reporters. "It could have gone the wrong way for us this afternoon but luckily enough our bowlers were good enough and they did well to pull it back.
"We've got to take three wickets as quickly as we can because we don't want to be chasing too many on that wicket."
Tillakaratne Dilshan departed for five after just half an hour of the Sri Lanka innings but Karunaratne soon indicated he was in no mood to capitulate.
The 24-year-old lefthander, playing only his fourth test, smashed 11 boundaries in his 109-ball knock - the best of them a huge lofted six over long-on with which he brought up his second test fifty.
He survive a big scare on 54 when he was dropped behind by Wade but departed soon after tea when the wicketkeeper held on to the ball when Karunaratne was drawn into an edge by Jackson Bird's reverse swing.
Lahiru Thirimanne (7), Thilan Samaraweera (0), Angelo Mathews (16), Jayawardene and Dhammika Prasad (15) then followed to leave the tourists floundering.
"We were very disappointed with the batting in the last session," Karunaratne SAID.
"If Chandimal can put some runs on the board tomorrow, we can do something on this track. I think 150, 175 would be a good target for us.
"The wicket is turning a lot now and the Aussie guys are playing the fourth innings, so I think (spinners) Rangana and Dilshan can do something."
FINAL TEST
Samaraweera's wicket received the biggest cheer of the day as Mike Hussey, playing in his final test before retirement, took the catch in the deep off the bowling of Nathan Lyon.
The 37-year-old batsman got another rousing ovation when he bowled the last over of the day.
Wade had earned plenty of cheers in the opening session with a knock of 102 as bright as the pink shirts and hats being worn by much of the crowd in support of former Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath's breast cancer charity.
The lefthander resumed on 47 with Australia just 48 runs ahead of Sri Lanka's first innings tally of 294 and he reached his third test half century in the second over.
Initially combining with Peter Siddle (38) in a partnership of 77 for the seventh wicket, the sheer power of his strokes had the 24,675 crowd purring in the Sydney sunshine.
When Siddle, Mitchell Starc and Lyon were dismissed in quick succession it looked like the last rites for Australia's innings at 393-9.
Wade, who was on 70, had other ideas and with Bird at the other end offering support with his first six test runs, he bludgeoned his way to his second test century.
He reached the mark by smashing his ninth four to deep cover and then raced around the ground, arms outstretched, in an emotional celebration of his first hundred on home soil.
"It was an amazing feeling. To do it on a day like today, with the McGrath foundation day, was something special. I will never forget it," said Wade, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer as a teenager.

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NHL, union make progress in marathon talks

 Marathon talks between the NHL and the players' association stretched deep into Saturday night and then Sunday morning after the sides stayed apart for most of the previous two days.
Once federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh convinced the fighting factions to resume face-to-face negotiations Saturday afternoon, they were able to make progress. While no one commented publicly on what was accomplished, it was reported that headway was being made on key issues such as the pension plan and salary cap limits.
The sides began meeting around 1 p.m. EST and were still talking at 3:30 a.m. It was the longest session of this lockout and the second marathon meeting of the week. It also was the latest a session had gone into the night.
The league and the union talked until 1 a.m. Thursday before negotiations hit a snag.
Bargaining proceeded at a slow pace on Saturday, and the sides also separated to hold internal caucuses. Beckenbaugh conducted meetings alone with the union and league before bringing them together.
Beckenbaugh walked back and forth several times Friday between the Manhattan headquarters of each side — beginning at 10 a.m. and wrapping things up shortly before 11 p.m.
While he never got the league and the union in the same room then, enough was accomplished to convince the sides to keep going.
Beckenbaugh began Saturday by holding a meeting with the union and then walked over to talk to the NHL office. He then made the trek back to the players' association's hotel for the group meeting.
The sides have less than a week to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to save what likely would be a 48-game hockey season.
Beckenbaugh also took part in talks during the 2004-05 lockout, which forced the cancellation of the whole season.
The players' association concluded a two-day vote among its members on Saturday night that was expected to again give the union's executive board the authority to declare a disclaimer of interest.
The disclaimer can now be issued at any time. If so, the union would dissolve and become a trade association. That could send this fight to the courts and put the season in jeopardy. The disclaimer would allow players to file individual antitrust suits against the NHL.
Earlier this week, a self-imposed deadline expired on the first authorization that union members gave the board. The initial threat seemed to work in getting the NHL back to the bargaining table, but talks broke down Wednesday night after the deadline passed without action taken by the union.
Now the players want to regain the leverage the potential disclaimer gives them.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman set a Jan. 11 deadline for a deal so the season can begin eight days later. A 48-game season is the minimum Bettman said the league would play.
All games through Jan. 14, along with the All-Star game, have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
Trust has become a major impediment in the talks that appear to have been rescued to some extent by Beckenbaugh.
On Thursday morning, the sides solved a problem that arose regarding the reporting by clubs of hockey-related revenue, and how both sides sign off on the figures at the end of the fiscal year. The union felt the language had been changed without proper notification. That dispute was over in about an hour, but clearly discord was present in the talks.
Another small meeting, the second of the day without union head Donald Fehr, addressed the pension plan. That one lasted just under two hours and marked the last time the sides met this week.
The players' association held a late Thursday afternoon conference call to initiate its second vote on the disclaimer of interest.
A sense of progress might be why the union didn't declare the disclaimer Wednesday, but any optimism created after the deadline passed has taken several hits since.
The NHLPA filed a motion in federal court in New York seeking to dismiss the league's suit to have the lockout declared legal. The NHL sued the union in mid-December, figuring the players were about to submit their own complaint against the league.
But the union argued that the NHL is using the suit "to force the players to remain in a union. Not only is it virtually unheard of for an employer to insist on the unionization of its employees, it is also directly contradicted by the rights guaranteed to employees under ... the National Labor Relations Act."
The court scheduled a status conference for the sides on Monday.
The sides have traded four proposals in the past week — two by each side — but none has gained enough traction. Getting an agreement on a pension plan likely would go a long way toward a deal that would put hockey back on the ice.
Fehr believed a plan for a players-funded pension was established before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.
The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn't been agreed to, and is another major point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million with a floor of $44 million.
In return for the higher cap, players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.
Other issues still needing resolution include the maximum length of player contracts, the yearly variance in salary of those individual deals, and how long the CBA should be in effect.
Both sides seem content on it lasting for 10 years, but they had different opinions on whether an opt-out should be allowed to be exercised after seven years or eight.
Last season, the NHL posted record revenues of $3.3 billion. The sides seem likely to agree on a 50-50 split of the pot in any new deal.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

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NHL, union engage marathon talks; no deal yet

The NHL and the players' association made progress during more than 15 hours of negotiations, but they likely will need more time to work out a deal to end the months-long lockout.
Talks were still going strong past 4 a.m. EST Sunday. There just didn't appear to be an agreement in sight yet.
"Doubtful," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email when asked if the possibility existed for a new agreement in this extended round of talks.
It certainly wasn't from a lack of trying.
After nearly 13 hours of meeting separately with federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh on Friday, the sides again had talks with him Saturday morning. That laid the groundwork for the marathon negotiations that began around 1 p.m. and were coming close to the daylight hours in Manhattan.
The league and the union had stayed mostly apart the previous two days after talks turned sour.
Once Beckenbaugh convinced the fighting factions to resume face-to-face negotiations Saturday afternoon, they were able to make progress. While no one commented publicly on what was accomplished, it was reported that headway was being made on key issues such as the pension plan and salary cap limits.
This marked the longest bargaining session of this lockout and the second marathon meeting of the week. It also was the latest hour the sides were together.
The league and the union talked until 1 a.m. Thursday before negotiations hit a snag.
Bargaining proceeded at a slow pace on Saturday, and the sides also separated to hold internal caucuses. Beckenbaugh conducted meetings alone with the union and league before bringing them together.
Beckenbaugh walked back and forth several times Friday between the headquarters of each side — beginning at 10 a.m. and wrapping things up shortly before 11 p.m.
While he never got the league and the union in the same room then, enough was accomplished to convince the sides to keep going.
Beckenbaugh began Saturday by holding a meeting with the union and then walked over to talk to the NHL office. He then made the trek back to the players' association's hotel for the group meeting.
The sides have less than a week to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to save what likely would be a 48-game hockey season.
Beckenbaugh also took part in talks during the 2004-05 lockout, which forced the cancellation of the whole season.
The players' association concluded a two-day vote among its members on Saturday night that was expected to again give the union's executive board the authority to declare a disclaimer of interest.
The disclaimer can now be issued at any time. If so, the union would dissolve and become a trade association. That could send this fight to the courts and put the season in jeopardy. The disclaimer would allow players to file individual antitrust suits against the NHL.
Earlier this week, a self-imposed deadline expired on the first authorization that union members gave the board. The initial threat seemed to work in getting the NHL back to the bargaining table, but talks broke down Wednesday night after the deadline passed without action taken by the union.
Now the players want to regain the leverage the potential disclaimer gives them.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman set a Jan. 11 deadline for a deal so the season can begin eight days later. A 48-game season is the minimum Bettman said the league would play.
All games through Jan. 14, along with the All-Star game, have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
Trust has become a major impediment in the talks that appear to have been rescued to some extent by Beckenbaugh.
On Thursday morning, the sides solved a problem that arose regarding the reporting by clubs of hockey-related revenue, and how both sides sign off on the figures at the end of the fiscal year. The union felt the language had been changed without proper notification. That dispute was over in about an hour, but clearly discord was present in the talks.
Another small meeting, the second of the day without union head Donald Fehr, addressed the pension plan. That one lasted just under two hours and marked the last time the sides met this week.
The players' association held a late Thursday afternoon conference call to initiate its second vote on the disclaimer of interest.
A sense of progress might be why the union didn't declare the disclaimer Wednesday, but any optimism created after the deadline passed has taken several hits since.
The NHLPA filed a motion in federal court in New York seeking to dismiss the league's suit to have the lockout declared legal. The NHL sued the union in mid-December, figuring the players were about to submit their own complaint against the league.
But the union argued that the NHL is using the suit "to force the players to remain in a union. Not only is it virtually unheard of for an employer to insist on the unionization of its employees, it is also directly contradicted by the rights guaranteed to employees under ... the National Labor Relations Act."
The court scheduled a status conference for the sides on Monday.
The sides have traded four proposals in the past week — two by each side — but none has gained enough traction. Getting an agreement on a pension plan likely would go a long way toward a deal that would put hockey back on the ice.
Fehr believed a plan for a players-funded pension was established before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.
The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn't been agreed to, and is another major point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million with a floor of $44 million.
In return for the higher cap, players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.
Other issues still needing resolution include the maximum length of player contracts, the yearly variance in salary of those individual deals, and how long the CBA should be in effect.
Both sides seem content on it lasting for 10 years, but they had different opinions on whether an opt-out should be allowed to be exercised after seven years or eight.
Last season, the NHL posted record revenues of $3.3 billion. The sides seem likely to agree on a 50-50 split of the pot in any new deal.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

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NHL, union reach tentative agreement

It looks like there will be a hockey season after all — shortened for sure, but perhaps back in business in a week or so.
The NHL and the players' association reached a tentative agreement early Sunday to end a nearly four-month-old lockout that threatened to wipe out what was left of an already abbreviated season.
A marathon negotiating session that lasted more than 16 hours, stretching from Saturday afternoon until just before dawn Sunday, produced a 10-year deal.
"We've got to dot a lot of Is and cross a lot of Ts," Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."
All schedule issues, including the length of the season and the look of the schedule, still need to be worked out. The NHL has models for 50- and 48-game seasons.
The original estimate was regular-season games could begin about eight days after a deal was reached. It is believed that all games will be played within the two respective conferences, but that also hasn't been decided.
The collective bargaining agreement still must be ratified by a majority of the league's 30 owners and the union's membership of approximately 740 players.
"Hopefully within a very few days the fans can get back to watching people who are skating, not the two of us," players' association executive director Donald Fehr said of himself and Bettman.
The players have been locked out since Sept. 16, the day after the previous agreement expired.
"Any process like this is difficult. It can be long," Fehr said.
Under the negotiated CBA, free-agent contracts will have a maximum length of seven years, but clubs can go to eight years to re-sign their own players. Each side can opt out of the deal after eight years.
The pension plan was "the centerpiece of the deal for the players," said Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ron Hainsey, who took part in negotiations throughout the process.
The actual language of the pension plan still has to be written, but Hainsey said there is nothing substantial that needs to be fixed.
"I want to thank Don Fehr," Bettman said. "We went through a tough period, but it's good to be at this point."
The players' share of hockey-related income, that reached a record $3.3 billion last season, will drop from 57 percent to a 50-50 split. The salary cap for the upcoming season will be $70.2 million and will then drop to $64.3 million in the 2013-14 season. All clubs will have to have a minimum payroll of $44 million.
The league had wanted next season's cap to drop to $60 million, but agreed to the same amount of last season's upper limit.
Inside individual player contracts, the salary can't vary more than 35 percent year to year, and the final year can't be more than 50 percent of the highest year.
A decision on whether NHL players will participate in the 2014 Olympics will be made outside the confines of the collective bargaining agreement. While it's expected that players will take part, the IOC and the International Ice Hockey Federation will have discussions with the league and the union before the matter is settled.
After the sides stayed mostly apart for two days, following late-night talks that turned sour, federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh worked virtually around the clock to get everyone back to the bargaining table.
This time it worked — early on the 113th day of the work stoppage.
George Cohen, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service director, called the deal "the successful culmination of a long and difficult road."
"Of course, the agreement will pave the way for the professional players to return to the ice and for the owners to resume their business operations," he said in a statement. "But the good news extends beyond the parties directly involved; fans throughout North America will have the opportunity to return to a favorite pastime and thousands of working men and women and small businesses will no longer be deprived of their livelihoods."
Time was clearly a factor, with the sides facing a deadline of Thursday or Friday to reach a deal that would allow for a 48-game season to start a week later. Bettman had said the league could not allow a season of fewer than 48 games per team.
All games through Jan. 14, along with the All-Star game and the New Year's Day Winter Classic had already been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
Without an agreement, the NHL faced the embarrassment of losing two seasons due to a labor dispute, something that has never happened in another North American sports league. The 2004-05 season was wiped out while the sides negotiated hockey's first salary cap.

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