No NHL this year. :(

[Tuggan]

bettmans supposed to scrap the season tomorrow, anybody that frequents this board even care?

[Malluas]

i do cause i love the NHL playoffs.. regular season i can careless.. if they did a 1 loss and your done tournament each year i am down for that heh.

no favorite team.. eventho i like the Sharks when they are in the playoffs.

i just like to watch.. just like with rugby.. i love watchin the hits

[Tikker]

AT this point i say Fuck the NHLPA

open the NHL, start with fresh tryouts


create new superstars

also, salary cap will make the EA NHL game more fun, just like madden, hhoho

[Kaemon]

Bettman's pushed it to Wed. Apparently they are having another "secret" meeting right now.

[Harrison]

Fuck them...

Are they whining they aren't being paid enough or some equally inane bullshit?

[Phlegm]

Both sides are screwing themselves royally since the majority of people in the US dont even know hockey is on strike.

[Arlos]

NHLPA is in a no-win situation on this one. Look at how much those basketball and football players are suffering with salaries in leagues with caps. Oh yeah, I dunno how they get by on 13mil/year salaries or with 20mil signing bonuses. The horror, the horror, the horror.

-Arlos

[Harrison]

So it is the same shit?

Fuck them in their stupid asses.

[Tuggan]

the "breakthrough" was the players willing to finally accept a salary cap for the team of about 52million per team. the owners said no, they want it around 40million. so it still looks like the season is lost.

i blame the owners, the players seemed to be more willing to bargain and talk. the owners are too damn stubborn. besides they dug their own hole by dishing out cash and huge contracts hand over fist to players that didnt deserve it. giving 2mil a year to the team goon? get real. 3mil a year to a 15 goals a season player? fuck the owners, they need to learn to run a business.

plus i think bettman has pretty much ruined the NHL, i just love the sport and hate to give up on the nhl. changing conferences rich with history, adding a shitload of teams in places there shouldnt be hockey teams. rediculous shit, i hope hes fuckin gone after this bullshit theyre involved with now is finished.

[Langston]

Players' pay checks are directly proportionate to the amount of money people pay to watch a game.

If people were to stop paying $50+ for a ticket, the salaries would be more in-line with life on a normal planet.

This is true of all sports - not just hockey.... it's also true of Music concerts. I remember the days of being able to buy a ticket to a good show for $15... no more... no more....

[Tuggan]

Players' pay checks are directly proportionate to the amount of money people pay to watch a game.

thats usually true, but in the NHL's case it isnt. thats why they have the lockout right now. the owners claim to be losing money each season, and its all due to their lack of responsibility with their money. you got 8 or so teams that flourish and do really well in the profit margin, teams like Detroit, Toronto, Montreal... ya know the big hockey cities. then you have most teams that break about even, profits depending on playoff runs etc. then you have shitholes like nashville and the carolinas that continue to suck and continue to lose money because lets face it, there arent many people in the south interested in watching a buncha foreigners skate around on ice with sticks. so those teams do HORRIBLE, lose a ton of money and fuck the league up cause they pay for the losses.

[Lyion]

Unfortunately if you don't have a Salary cap, the larger markets will drive away and the salaries to get marquee players will continue to skyrocket.

The players screwed themselves, and really their complete defiance at the Salary Cap is the reason they aren't getting paid this year.

[Langston]

Maybe it's different in hockey... but I don't know. The last time I wanted to go to a game it was going to cost me $54 for a mediocre seat to watch the Thrashers play... I don't even remember who they were playing it was so mediocre.

That is a problem. The Thrashers weren't worth $20 to watch unless they were playing a real team.

[Tuggan]

Unfortunately if you don't have a Salary cap, the larger markets will drive away and the salaries to get marquee players will continue to skyrocket.

The players screwed themselves, and really their complete defiance at the Salary Cap is the reason they aren't getting paid this year.

the players union offered to cut their salaries by 24% or something huge before the owners had even bothered to compromise a thing. the owners still arent really cooperating, the players agree to a cap at 52million per team. owners refuse to budge and want 40million per team. its billionaires versus millionaires so really its all pointless, other than their own greed on both ends. i feel the owners are bout 75% at fault for the the lockout and things that happened leading into it. i dont think you can really blame an athlete for taking the money offered to them, you'd have to be downright retarded to say no to a fat contract you dont deserve.

[Langston]

Sure - if they throw money at you, take it! The problem is the few players that DEMAND 7-8 figure salaries which then starts an avalanche of EVERY player using those limited few as a benchmark for their own demands/expectations. It's a snowball effect that's plaguing all major sports.

[Phlegm]

The referee's union want the players' union to cave because they are running out of money and have to get real jobs. The article is on espn.com.

[Langston]

real jobs

That made me chuckle.

[Malluas]

Ugz.. somewhat the people pay the salaries.. for the most part they don't.. and thats true for every sport.


I think both sides are screwing themselves. Players want too much.. owners want too little (as in lower salary cap than the players)

and seeing as no one really cares about the NHL in the US.. they have destroyed their league.

[Phlegm]

What hurt the NHL is that they dont have a televise contract with one of the network.

[xaoshaen]

Maybe it's different in hockey... but I don't know. The last time I wanted to go to a game it was going to cost me $54 for a mediocre seat to watch the Thrashers play... I don't even remember who they were playing it was so mediocre.

That is a problem. The Thrashers weren't worth $20 to watch unless they were playing a real team.

It's different in hockey. The players are essentially demanding to be paid like NBA or MLB players when their sport generates a puny fraction of the revenue either of the more popular sports brings in. As far as I'm concerned, let them all get real jobs for a year or two and see what they consider an acceptable salary cap. Well, actually, as far as I'm concerned, let hocky slide into a bottomless abyss to the accompaniment of weeping and gnashing of teeth by both of its fans.

[Langston]

Sure, I understand that the ticket sales drive the salaries. That's my point. If there wasn't a pool of millions because of over-priced arena tickets, then there wouldn't be this demand for millions for salaries.

I know the argument that is used is that they are the top .1% of athletes in the world and for that they can demand high salaries for their impressive talents... but it's just foolish. Ticket prices are soaring because the door was opened an inch and the players kicked it open. The owners are greedy bastards, too; they make ample profits off of the teams - but it's a cascading effect that ultimately the FANS can control by forcing lower ticket prices.

Lower ticket prices = lower salary pool = weeding out the greedy bastards or a restructuring of the player expectations.

Maybe I'm being naive... but I believe that we, the fans, have created this problem and the players and owners have capitalized on it.

[Malluas]

well they throw tennis on USA (LOL) and they still get more viewers.. its just not popular in the US. not sure why it isn't, we love big toothless guys hitting each other (football).. thats why i can't figure out why rugby hasn't caught on a tad more than it has, eventho in high school its becoming a big sport... they have a national championship

[Tuggan]

they had contracts with ESPN, ABC or NBC dont recall which, and Fox. they just dont get paid shit for them, because nobody gives a damn about hockey outside of the original six cities and a few others. so the market is small, the games get lousy ratings, nobody wants commercial time on hockey night etc.. even hockey night in canada is losing its ratings that shit is like church in canada.

[Malluas]

Ugz.. i would be down for paying athletes no more than 200k .. seeing as they don't save lifes (doctors) or do engineering.

and sorry if you can't live on 200k a year then you have a prob

[Phlegm]

They have contract with ABC where they split the revenues from advertisements, no money up front. The problem with that is the rating is miniscule so the money is just not there. They also have a contract with espn that is about 500 times smaller than the NFL.