What the NHL has to say about the lockout

While the players are busy saying their own things about the lockout, the NHL issued its own statement as to why they’ve shut the doors. When you read the following excerpt from it, you might wonder why things are the way they are.

Thanks to the conditions fostered by seven seasons under the previous CBA, competitive balance has created arguably the most meaningful regular season in pro sports; a different team has won the Stanley Cup every year; fans and sponsors have agreed the game is at its best, and the League has generated remarkable growth and momentum. While our last CBA negotiation resulted in a seismic change in the League’s economic system, and produced corresponding on-ice benefits, our current negotiation is focused on a fairer and more sustainable division of revenues with the Players — as well as other necessary adjustments consistent with the objectives of the economic system we developed jointly with the NHL Players’ Association seven years ago. Those adjustments are attainable through sensible, focused negotiation — not through rhetoric.

Cutting to the quick, they want to fix the current system so the owners get more money from it. Of course, the NHL also says they want to get things done as quickly as possible saying, “We owe it to each other, to the game and, most of all, to the fans.”

Keep that line in mind while you’re going without NHL hockey for the third time since 1994.