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The National Hockey League cancelled another swath of games today, eliminating all regular season games through December 14 plus the All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio that was scheduled for January 27. The NHL lockout has now wiped out 422 regular season games plus the Winter Classic that was cancelled earlier this month. The lack of progress between the league and the National Hockey League Players Association increasingly threatens cancellation of the entire season. The union submitted a new proposal at the league’s request on Wednesday, but that offer was rebuffed, leaving the players and owners at odds. The union offered to link the players’ share to revenue in the league’s preferred percentage-based system, a substantial concession. But the owners object to the union’s plan to honor existing contracts — $393 million compared to the league’s last offer of $211 million. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the lockout has resulted in the league losing between $18 million and $20 million daily. The lockout has also been painful for NBC Sports Network and NBC, which have rights to NHL games. This is the fourth work stoppage for the NHL since 1992, including cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season.
NHL Season Inches Toward Total Loss
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I’ve already cancelled my cable sports package. It’s time for fans to hurt them back.
Too bad it won’t happen. A small minority will do the right thing but the vast majority will go running back like sheep. Personally I’m done with the NHL for good.
Seems as if the same union boobs that negotiated for the Hostess workers are doing it for the hockey guys now. They’d rather have no job, no income, no business etc. than to take a penny less or give an inch. Gimme, gimme. More benefits! More raises! Kill the golden goose. As we all know there’s unlimited funds for everything. Must all be Obama voters. Morons.
Exactly. All the owners want is an even split of 50/50. They’re not even trying to win the negotiations, they just want it even. It’s only a 7% change. There’s no player in the NHL who will miss 7% of his paycheck. Even the lowliest of guys will be fine because the NHL has the highest minimum salary of all sports leagues.
Don’t be confused, the owners are absolutely scumbags and it’s easy to point the finger at them, and I was when this started, but at this point the players are being insanely unreasonable and they are absolutely the reason why hockey isn’t happening. They are giving up millions upon millions upon millions of dollars in salary, destroying all the momentum the league has built up the past few years, hurting the league’s future…for 7%.
Before the lockout, players made about 70% of league revenue. Under the last CBA, the players were receiving 57% of league revenues, so if they accept 50% going forward, they’re not losing 7%; they’re losing 12.3% of their 57%. The league is also attempting to re-define what qualifies as “hockey-related revenue” so players would take an even bigger percentage pay-cut – a smaller fraction of fewer revenue streams. Oh, and between 2003 and 2012, NHL revenue grew by 64%.
So they’re asking their employees (who are also their products) to take a 12.3% cut (their initial proposal was a 24% cut) at a time when the league posts record revenues every single year. If that seems fair or logical to you, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
nah, us obama voters are basketball and football fans, we hate hockey, we’re americans not canadians.
obama ’16
I’ll say this yet again…the NHL seriously needs new blood and leadership and ideas to be implanted versus the antiquated buffoonery ideology that both Buttgoblin and his stooge Daly are enacting there right now. Three lockouts in a 20 years span is unacceptable and the Coyotes ownership situation is still in limbo and all his moves have been disasters. Why NBC decided to hurridly sign a 10 year rights deal with them is also mind-boggling but the bottom line is this…get a deal done by 1/1/2013 to salage a 50 game season or this season is over. The whole month of December should have been tossed as no new meetings are scheduled for now.
Bettman has to be the worst commissioner in the history of sports. He’s hated by both players and fans. It’s time for him to resign.
Yes, because this is all Bettman’s fault. It’s not the fault of the owners or the players, it’s Bettman. Riiiiight.
Gary Bettman simply must go…
As a non-Hockey fan (apologies), is there an insurance plan for the Network (NBC) who bid for (and air) the games?
Or do Hockey revenues (ad-wise) not mean a great deal?
I’m sure in specific markets they mean a GREAT deal. But over all, does it matter?
My understanding is that NBC paid $2b for a 10 year deal with the NHL. If this entire season is canceled and the NHL resumes next fall, NBC still pays the NHL $200m for the 2012-13 season, and in exchange will have an extra season added to the end at no cost (NBC still only airs 10 seasons, but over 11 years.) It’s set up to be a win-win: the league gets hundreds of millions of dollars for nothing in order to help them endure the lockout, and NBC gets the 2021-22 NHL season at the 2012-13 price (assuming they actually end the lockout and get back to the business of growing the sport and league revenues year over year.)
Yeah, even if they come back I won’t.
I’ve enjoyed the time away from the sport. It’s reminded me there is more to Fall and Winter than hockey… Like football.
Doesn’t the NHL season go through May? Still time to get an agreement.
no one gives a shit about hockey. it sucks.
The owners are the problem, not the labor force you plebs! Why the f do they sign these players for so much $$$ when they can’t afford it? Same w/the hostess situation— management purposely driving a company into the ground after workers keep making consessions in pay. Yes, workers, truck drivers, people losing their pentions cause venture capitalist think it’s normal to bankrupt companies and line their pockets. Class warfare, the rich screwing the little guy. Just ask Romney supporters, they know this deal. The NHL owners are pigs that can’t manage their own $.
I suspect there would have to be a deal made by December 23rd to save the season (this would be based on training camps opening up January 2nd, the regular-season starting January 9th or 10th, and a 46-game season ending in early-to-mid-April with playoffs to follow.
If the entire season is cancelled, look for the NHL to “pull a Hostess” and go out of business, in which case other people will undoubtedly make an effort to form a new major pro hockey league (“New Hockey League” perhaps) to start play in the Fall of 2014.
This “New Hockey League” would probably have sixteen teams: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, plus one team each in the thirteen largest U.S. TV markets that had a team in the “old NHL”.
I should have also mentioned in my last post that had New England Patriots (NFL) owned Bob Kraft also owned the NHL’s Boston Bruins, there would have been no lockout!!
If revenues are growing but their percentage is shrinking it is not a guaranteed pay cut
I suggest that whenever hockey gets back to playing games, the fans boycott the first home game of each team. I know this will be a hardship for the Kings’ fans, and it must be. This will show the players and the owners who pays the bills. Let them play in front of nobody to get the feel of what will happen if this happens again. It will hurt the vendors and others who make money from home games, and it must be done to make the point.