Freep mail or ping me if you want on or off the Hockey Ping List.
Posted on 02/17/2005 6:17:52 AM PST by drt1
The NHL is the one league that could face real competition. I would expect that Europe would figure out that they could start a fairly successful hockey league of their own.
Hockey's been in a disastrous situation since the last CBA and the players just don't want to fix it.
Finally, the clutching and grabbing of the NHL means that there are few if any superstars left. The Devils are fun to watch and few people know the names of any of the players. Put replacement players on the NHL ice and the difference in entertainment quality will be minimal.
Any company can go out of business, but if you want to destroy a whole industry, you have to call in a union.
So are season ticket holders out or are they due a refund? Would be really sad if the ticket holders got the shaft on this one.
Hockey?...What's that?
I think I heard there will be refunds - Would certainly make sense from both moral and legal standpoints.
BINGO!!!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!
I'm not arguing that many sports atheletes aren't overpaid... however in hockey the money isn't there for the salaries. They don't have big tv contracts subsidizing salaries... the salaries are directly related to the cash the teams can generate from fans buying tickets and merchandise.
You can't say football players make it.. I should make it. It just doesn't work. I will blame the owners for paying the salaries in the first place.... but the players clearly are outside of reality in their expectations in this.
Frankly you have 1 employer that is going to pay you as a professional player, and that's the league. No other job you can find is going to pay you anywhere near what you will make there... your career is short.. and you have two choices... work with the owners and make as much as you can during that career within reason.. or go park cars for a living.
If taking a pay cut is what is needed, and you only make 500k this year as opposed to 750k ... what are you going to do? Say SCREW YOU, I'll just make $0 this year? That's just flat out stupidity.
Freep mail or ping me if you want on or off the Hockey Ping List.
Well, there's still Gruden and the Bucs! HA! HA! HA! HA!
God, what went wrong in the Glazers' minds? Come home, Coach Tony!
Hear Hear!
When's the last time they made the (extraordinarily easy to make) postseason, last millenium?
You said it right ABG. Way too much and too fast. If the salary caps were the sticking point, and the Owners have a shred of truth in their need to cap costs to survive, then I can't see how there won't be shrinkage after this disaster. If a team was marginal it is now not viable - And there are about four or five that fit that description.
Actually, that's not far from accurate. Neil Smith and Glen Sather paying gobs of cash for past-their-prime, trading-deadline superstars only added fuel to the escalating salary fire.
I believe the negotators for both sides in this labour dispute are to blame when things like this happen. Both sides needed to give and refused until "extreme" pressure was put on them. The players with their cap and the 24 percent cut in pay was a give and the owners with what it gave up to a salary cap of 42.5 million. Obviously there was middle ground to be had but the NHL decided to pull the plug and the NHLPA decided to let it happen.
You have indicated that the NHL will be better off for all of this. At this point, I am really not to sure. After what happened to baseball, I would say they may be better in many many years. One thing is for sure - those small businesses around arenas who relied on hockey games took an absolutle beating.
The amazing thing is that very few people care and less miss watching these overpaid goons.
Since owners of all sport teams have cried poverty since the beginning of professional sports, who knows what the real story is when it comes to their finances?
I'm not as knowledgeable about hockey, but I do know that in baseball that the owners were the idiots who overpaid for mediocrities when free agency. If they had used some restraint during the seventies and eighties, the strikes of '81 and '94 would have never happened.
I'm not a big fan of unions, but I have a hard time blaming sports unions for sustaining a free market for their members.
I grew up with hockey. Unfortunately, if I didn't play or see it live, I never would have come to love the game. Hockey doesn't play well on TV -- it is too fast and the puck is too small. The fights are the best part of TV hockey - you can see all the action. It will never draw fans who only watch on TV. Without a national TV market, it remains a second tier sport.
I blame the fans! They are unwilling to pay $100.00 for a ticket. </sarcasm off>
What do Canadians do on Saturday nights these days ?
Of course we have. It can only get better from here. One down, three to go.
Let's see... what should be next? Professional basketball? Football?
Decisions... decisions...
The world must be better off with a few hundred fewer millionaire thugs...
What do Canadians do on Saturday nights these days ?
Probably send invitations for "Kerry" voters to come visit them.
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