12/21/24
February 23, 2004
I would assume given the current negotiating climate between the NHL and th NHLPA, the later would utilize this story to make their case that ownership is very much responsible for the bleak economic picture of the current NHL. Not that Rigas is indicative of ownership throughout the league, but that earning reports are hard to believe. And if the NHLPA won't make this argument, I will.
I hope so. Once the owners/league do that, the onus is squarely on the Union's shoulders. Here is Yorio's piece on 'the proposal'. She makes a similar point about bad management practices.
posted by garfield at 11:56 AM on February 23, 2004
I must admit that the owners look like a bunch of idiots when they show up with a piece of paper for a proposal. It stinks of this is what we want. If you don't like it too bad. However the NHLPA doesn't look much better considering didn't have a proposal at all. If the NHLPA wants some good PR they should come up with some ideas and start pitching them as alternatives to a hard cap. At least then we could get something productive going.
posted by camcanuck at 01:09 PM on February 23, 2004
The owners can open the books all they want, I doubt the NHLPA will believe those numbers any more than they believe the current numbers. Who needs facts when you can make such claims as "well, they're hiding it!" when the numbers don't go your way. Of course, I don't believe that the NHLPA is any more inherently at blame for this than the NHL -- they're both idiots, and they're both running on their egos (though it does seem like the NHLPA's ego is grander) -- but if things are going to continue like this, then both sides will crash. And crash hard. And I'll laugh as their multi-million dollar salaries disappear while I watch local Roadrunners games (been meaning to go for a while!) Or, hell, even Ice Dogs games. And yeah, I doubt the southern markets will recover from an extended "break", but hey... that means more room for contraction. And contraction == better hockey, and fewer NHLPA jobs. So, really, a true (big-market) hockey fan is likely to benefit anyway! Or I'm just ranting aimlessly. Either or.
posted by mkn at 03:57 PM on February 23, 2004
mkn: A little off-topic, but I thought you might find this to be an interesting read. The point he is making is that expansion != worse hockey (and therefore contraction != better hockey). The idea being there are a lot of players out there who don't quite make it to the NHL. However if they did (via expansion) then they become star players because they learn to play at the elevated level of the NHL. Without expansion they would be overlooked and never have a chance to show their skill. Interesting hypothesis, but I'm not sure I agree with him.
posted by camcanuck at 05:25 PM on February 23, 2004
I believe this comic summarizes the negotiations thus far. The league should raise the question of how much of the books the PA needs to see before they trust that the losses are huge. If either side was willing to properly negotiate, the PA would say "we distrust the numbers concerning A, B, and C" and the league would say "here are the numbers for A, B, and C, for your perusal". In a perfect world, this style of bartering would continue back and forth, and perhaps only a few weeks would pass before a reasonable deal was reached. But see the above comic for what's actually taking place. The sad thing is, the NHL is concocting a PR war (see CBA News) without realizing that PR is exactly what this issue doesn't need. Anyone who saw Bettman and Goodenow's limp barbs at each other during All-Star weekend knows this fluff is hurting the game. With each passing press conference they make themselves even more loathsome to the fans. What they need to do is shut the fuck up, get away from the microphones, hole up in a back room somewhere, and hammer out a deal.
posted by Succa at 08:56 PM on February 23, 2004
Succa, that comic is precious. HA!
posted by billsaysthis at 10:15 PM on February 23, 2004
2 points. I've heard rumors that a lot of the teams (but not all) will be openning their books this summer. The problem is no matter what the owners do the NHLPA will likely say the owners are hiding money. Secondly it costs a good chunk of change to realease your books (mostly legal fees from what I've heard) so some owners are reluctant to do this unless it's a last resort. Once late summer rolls around you may see a few more of them cough up the money.