@Tatdue – To answer your question and notwithstanding your venomous sarcasm, “intentionally” blowing off the first 5 weeks of the season is indeed what I honestly think this is all about. Obviously I can’t say that with 100% certainty, but that’s nonetheless what I truly believe. Now the TV contract angle which you mention may also be a mitigating factor in the resumption of play shortly ? … no argument from me on that. Regardless, I foresee an agreement being announced by November 5th latest, which would still allow enough time (albeit barely) to get things in place for a US Thanksgiving holiday weekend start.

Bettman laughs off revenue sharing, you know, where the rich teams each give a little bit to the not so rich teams so that they can compete with the rest of the league. Then in turn he decides that if the first 6 weeks were not played that those 4-6 teams that you are talking about would be able to compete with the rest of the league. So with Bettmans great mind he decides that the best course of action would be to call a lock out that would cost a large number of teams (including the 2 most powerful owners, Jakobs, and Snider) a lot of money. Not to mention the fact that this lock out is going to hurt the over all revenue stream, make the cities in which they play lose a lot of tax revenue, hurt a lot of people that depend on the NHL operating, and at the same time seriously piss everyone off and possibly lose a bunch of fans……I almost forgot there’s also those television contracts, let’s not forget them.

Ya good idea……….NOT

If this lock out ends by Thanks Giving it has nothing to do with the crap that you are talking about and instead has everything to do with the fact that the first game to be televised under the new and very lucrative NBC tv contract is the New York @ Boston game on Nov.23rd.

I completely agree! I will watch whatever is on NBC but wont go to a game, wont buy merchandise and wont buy Center Ice.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/year/2012

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Friends, this 100 million dollars is forgone “revenue” … not “net” profit or loss. There is a slight difference you know. Also bear in mind that likely 2/3 of the teams are actually going to be in better “bottom line” shape as a result of this temporary stoppage. Of course it isn’t good for teams like Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver. But it sure as hell makes sense if you’re the owner of Nashville, Tampa Bay or Carolina ! The simple fact is that October and November are by far the two biggest “loss-making” months of the year for the majority of financially-struggling teams, which numbers approximately 20 x franchises, mostly in the sunbelt. Let’s never forget our basic Economics 101 formula … “when revenue earned is < variable costs incurred, then operations must cease immediately". So while the NHL may have collectively kissed 100 million dollars of revenue good-bye with this fake impasse, I suspect that by doing so, they've collectively avoided a far greater sum in terms of variable cost (ie: which would equate to a "net" loss).

The bottom line is that while Bettman may be a rat … a "dumb" rat he is not !

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So in summary, what I'm suggesting is that given the current "precarious" state of at least 4-6 x "sunbelt" franchises, the elimination of October from the schedule is absolutely essential. October is a month where walk-up attendance figures, TV viewership numbers and corporate endorsement interest are all at their absolute lowest point. If even just one or two of these 4-6 x "sunbelt" franchises go down, then so also goes down the entire "House Which Bettman Built" ! That's honestly what I believe this issue is "really" all about.

And if there is no “this year”, good luck to you, owners and NHLPA.

Friend … I’m not sure what you’re inferring by that ? All I could tell you is that “I like everyone” else saw Tower 7 collapse approximately 8 hours “after” the attack, landing “perfectly” within it’s own footprint, which many suggested was consistent with a typical “controlled” demolition ? So no, I’m not some naive “conspiracy” advocate, if that’s what you’re suggesting ? However, I’m also not some naive “sheep” who blindly believes that stuff never happens ! Hope that answers your question.

No way Jose ! You only start doing that if this charade goes past the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend … but it won’t. These fake meetings and phony press conferences are nothing more than a “feign” designed to take people’s attention away from the real core issue, which is the elimination of the first six weeks in the 2012-13 season !

Here’s the Tuesday October 8th weather forecast for a few select NHL cities:

71 degrees – Nashville TN
78 degrees – Los Angeles CA
81 degrees – Dallas TX
88 degrees – Miami FL
93 degrees – Phoenix AZ

etc … etc … etc …