By Sean Gentille, Sporting News

On Tuesday, the NHL's shaky CBA negotiations seemed to be on the upswing. By Wednesday afternoon, that feeling of optimism was out the window.

"The sides are far apart and have different views of the world," commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters in Toronto.

The NHLPA submitted an alternate proposal on Tuesday that was met with widespread optimism from fans and media alike: There are provisions to address the gap between the league's low- and high-revenue teams, and the union would take a lower percentage of hockey-related revenue than its current 57 percent.

Bettman added that the league understood the proposal but added that it wasn't complete, and that "there is still a wide gap between us with not much time to go."

The current CBA expires on Sept. 15. Bettman has said there will be a lockout if no agreement is reached by then. The regular season is slated to begin on Oct. 11.

Union head Donald Fehr said players are set to surrender as much as $465 million in revenue under their proposal if the league continues to grow at an average rate. He says that number could balloon to $800 million if the league grows revenues the same rate it has over the last two seasons.

An NHL proposal last month called for a significant decrease for players in revenue share by introducing new contract restrictions, including a five-year cap on deals.

That proposal is the problem. After a lockout that nearly canceled the 2011-12 NBA season, those sides agreed to a rough 50/50 split. If that's the kind of agreement the league is seeking—and based on its proposed 57/43 split, it is—it's easy, if ridiculous, for owners to tout "a wide gap," because players would still earn 54 percent of hockey-related revenue, regardless of how progressive and beneficial their other ideas would be.

This article first appeared at sportingnews.com