Let the NHL Die!!!

That’s why rich people don’t pay taxes

Players are making good money in Europe, OK money in the AHL, and got fat escrow checks. They ain’t rushing back on your terms.

Do you see what’s happening here? I’m losing my interest fast.

No games equals no salaries.

Go play in the KHL, enjoy flying on those wonderful old Russian airplanes. Learn to speak Russian. Enjoy the Russian winters until late April.

Oh that’s right, you showed the NHL owners who’s in control. Moronic if you ask me.

Gary? Aren’t you supposed to be working on this whole new CBA mess?

http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2012/9/30/3427436/misconceptions

“The problem is that NHL teams are run as private businesses and private businesses don’t release their financials for review. Forbes builds their data off what they can gather off publicly available data, but that data is extremely sensitive to Hollywood accounting. For instance, last year, the Colorado Avalanche reported $7M more in gate receipts than the Florida Panthers, despite the Panthers drawing 1,100 more fans per game and having a higher average ticket price.

The Truth: Sadly, only the league, and possibly the players know the truth. Did the Panthers lose money? Yeah, probably. Did the Capitals lose more money than the Panthers? Probably not. Did the Sharks lose more than both of them? Come on now. Part of the reason for the Panthers’ gate receipts being so low is that their lease agreement leaves nothing to the team for luxury box sales. Of course, the Panthers lease their arena from a company owned by the same company that owns them, but Forbes doesn’t count that.”
”

I think its been amateur hour on both sides in terms of how to run a negotiation.

I do no think that owners should own teams to make money, but I do believe they should not be losing money. Both sides are to blame and both sides need to compromise for a solution. The sad part is the fans are the biggest losers. My proposal is to give Owners 40%, Players 40%, and give back 20% of revenue to fans by lowering ticket prices for everyone!

The NHL needs to grow up to this fact that if the owners keep playing hardball, the direction of where talent wants to go will leave the NHL as a feeder league with the best players leaving as soon as they become good. And if it continues to play hardball, it needs to set itself up to be a feeder league–with clubs being allowed to develop their own players in academies/hockey schools, and refocus energy exclusively around developing players and developing a legacy based on player development alone. (This goes for the big teams like the Habs, Bruins, Leafs, Rangers, Flyers, Caps, Red Wings, etc.)

The Stanley Cup also does not have to be tied to the playoff champion of the NHL–and if the NHL continues to play this kind of hardball, the Cup trustees may decide that another league is more worthy of the Cup.

Long story short, the NHL–Bill Daly, Gary Bettman, and the owners that are playing hardball–need to wake up to the fact that ice hockey is an international sport. If the players that make the product the way it is decide to pick up and leave, and another league like the KHL becomes a destination league for North American players (American or Canadian). With players constantly leaving, you could see the league devolve into something like the Argentine Primera Division (in soccer), where teams refused (and still refuse) to pay their top players (and major European teams could offer a lot more money, in terms of salaries to players and transfer fees to clubs). Once players started leaving, ultra-passionate (and potentially violent) ultras became the focal point of going to the games and watching Argentine soccer. (It became about doing the things around the club and causing trouble instead of watching what was on the field.) Players are leaving Argentina now, not because of money, but because of escaping the violence that became associated with Argentine domestic soccer.

I fear this may be what becomes of the NHL if the clueless owners continue to be clueless.

You are also wrong for baseball. Baseball varies year to year because it is not a set percentage of revenue. Players are paid what their contract states. But in 2011 MLB players took home 51% of all Revenues(http://mlb.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20110114&content_id=16441712&c_id=mlb).

They’ve agreed on a 50/50 split, if the Owners weren’t trying to take away or rollback every other contract right players had this would be solved already.