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Bettman to hold press conference Wednesday afternoon

NHL Labor Hockey

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to reporters following labor talks, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, in New York. The league and the players’ association met Friday for the fourth straight day trying to reach an agreement to end the lockout. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

AP

Tuesday’s players-owners meeting is extending deep into the night, but Sportsnet’s announcement that Gary Bettman will hold a Wednesday afternoon press conference might not mean as much as some believe.

The reason is simple: Bettman’s 1 pm ET presser was already planned before Tuesday’s meeting (which excluded NHL commissioner and NHLPA head Donald Fehr). It was planned in advance to coincide with the end of tomorrow’s Board of Governors meeting, according to CSNPhilly.com’s Tim Panaccio.

Now, there is the chance that Bettman could have an important announcement, too. It all depends upon how discussions go.

Various reporters indicated that the first portion of Tuesday’s talks provided some progress, prompting the sides to split for dinner and reconvene around 10 pm ET.

It’s anyone’s guess how much closer things could be to an end, although one anonymous player told the Sports Business Journal’s Chris Botta that the meetings haven’t been a waste of time, either.