ESPN.com published an article detailing an auditor's assessment that the National Hockey League lost $272.6 million last season. The amount is disputed by the NHL Players Association as both sides prepare to enter negotiations after this season.

The NHL Players Association immediately challenged the results. Ted Saskin, the union's senior director of business affairs, said that its examination of four teams' finances -- Boston, Buffalo, Los Angeles and Montreal -- found revenue and benefits to the clubs had been underreported by $52 million.

"The Levitt report is simply another league public relations initiative," NHLPA head Bob Goodenow said in a statement. He called it "fundamentally flawed" because it defined NHL revenue in the same manner used by the NFL and NBA in their salary-cap systems.