Deal Agreed to in Principle

[Scott MS]

Very true.

This group was more interested in 'a larger victory' than seeing hockey played this season.

I agree with your comment 100%. Where we disagree is that I don't have a problem with the owners holding out until they get the NHLPA to agree to a plan that keeps the league viable for many years to come. We have seen MANY failed sports leagues in the last several decades (even the IHL). The NHL wouldn't be the first to go bankrupt.

Further, I think you would be surpised who the 5 owners are who are holding out. They are probably the ones that have teams with payrolls in the $20M area. They want a cap so that they can be compeititve with teams with 3x their payroll, not because they want to only spend $42.5M in payroll.

Salary Cap = More Parity = More Opportunity to Make the Playoffs = More Fans in the Stands = More Revenue

 

[NickelBack]

Further, I think you would be surpised who the 5 owners are who are holding out.

I guarntee the hack that owns the once proud Chicago Blackhawks is one that would rather destroy the game than make any deal with the players.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Owners' mistrust ruins NHL

Michael Russo
(Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel
Feb. 20, 2005

"It's all about how they fudge their books. They lie about their revenues. I really find it hard to believe anything that comes out of Gary's mouth."

So says Anaheim Mighty Ducks winger Mike Leclerc on NHL owners and Commissioner Gary Bettman.

And that's what this NHL lockout and potential obliteration of a professional sports league is all about.

It's about mistrust.

It's not just the mistrust players have in the owners and Bettman. It's about the mistrust the owners have among themselves.

The NHL came close to "un-canceling" the season Saturday, but hawkish owners stood in the way. They're hawkish not because they're cheap, but because they don't trust the big-market clubs.

When the NHL, which claims to have lost $1.8 billion over the past 10 years, offered the NHL Players' Association a $42.5 million salary cap last week, Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Craig Patrick said it "scared the daylights out of me."

There's a reason Bettman refused to push the limit to a $45 million cap in an attempt to save the season. He wasn't permitted to. He had a hard enough time persuading owners to go to $40 million, let alone $42.5 million.

The small-market owners don't trust the big-market owners to show any restraint or self-control for the good of the league. They felt the cap would be a magnet, even though it's ludicrous to suggest that every team would have spent at the max, especially after a lockout.

But big-market owners earned the mistrust.

Since 2000, anybody with a clue saw this league was headed for a shutdown. Yet teams such as Toronto, Detroit, Colorado, Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, the Rangers and others spent recklessly.

They set an inflated market with stupid, negligent contracts. They ignored that the health of the league was at stake, and the result: The future of the NHL is in peril.

The biggest shame here is the smaller-market teams got what they wanted. Teams with $30 million payrolls would no longer compete against teams with $80 million payrolls.

A salary cap in the low to mid-40s would have changed everything. Small-market owners wouldn't have had to spend in the 40s to compete against the Torontos, Philadelphias, Detroits and Colorados. And those teams would not be able to buy All-Star teams.

When the season was "canceled" Wednesday, Toronto defenseman Ken Klee was frustrated, saying, "The commissioner makes (Leafs fans) out to be just another one of 30 teams, and that's wrong.

"The bottom 10 franchises in terms of fan base and passion seem to be controlling everything."

And Klee is right. The most powerful owners reside in Edmonton, Nashville and, yes, South Florida.

Like it or not, there are 30 teams in the NHL, many in struggling markets. But the overall health of the league depends on teams such as Florida, Phoenix and Anaheim competing, selling out their buildings and generating league revenues.

And that will eventually benefit the players. But until there's a true partnership among everybody, including the owners, this league will be in dire straits.

The NHL is a laughingstock this morning. The owners did it to themselves.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/0220nhlcolumn0220.html

 

[WizardOfAz]

I guarntee the hack that owns the once proud Chicago Blackhawks is one that would rather destroy the game than make any deal with the players.

That's a pretty safe bet!