Moe Maishlish
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Mar 30, 1999
- Messages
- 992
Well, it's officially official. By midnight tonight, the NHL lockout will be in effect...
http://www.nhlcbanews.com/news/bog_meeting091504.html
This obviously blows donkey balls for us hockey fans. No season in the forseable future, given the nature of the grievance. It's basically boiling down to the whole salary-cap issue... the owners want one, the players don't, and neither side wants to budge. It's all about money.
The truly sad part is what a full-scale & enduring lockout will mean to the league. Frankly, I don't think the sport can survive losing a season of hockey. Even if this issue is resolved in time to complete HALF a scheduled season of games, I'm betting that enough fans in smaller market cities will be alienated to the point that they'll just lose interest! Less interest will result in less ticket sales, which means less revenue for the teams, which means less money to spend on players, etc. etc. etc. Before you know it, the team folds, and people are out of their jobs.
Look at what happened to MLB ten years ago with the Baseball strike! Toronto still hasn't recovered from the loss of the season, and individual game attendance has been way way low since then. I don't think the Leafs will suffer at all if there's a strike (because hey, we're HOCKEY TOWN! You're lucky if you can get your hands on nosebleeds for a crappy game!), but less hockey-centric cities like Nashville or Columbus will probably lose a significant portion of their fanbase, and hence revenue.
It's a sad state of affairs when an athlete considers an average salary of 1.3 Million U.S. (plus a kick-ass pension, plus benefits, etc. etc. etc) to be to little. I wonder if the athletes & owners understand the true economics of the situation, and how some of the fans who are making 2% of their salaries (if we're lucky!) are the ones who are actually supporting them! The fans buy the tickets, the fans watch the NHL broadcasts on TV, and the fans buy the team & player branded sports apparel.
Shame on them...
A lockout will hurt everyone... players, owners, and fans alike.
Moe.
http://www.nhlcbanews.com/news/bog_meeting091504.html
This obviously blows donkey balls for us hockey fans. No season in the forseable future, given the nature of the grievance. It's basically boiling down to the whole salary-cap issue... the owners want one, the players don't, and neither side wants to budge. It's all about money.
The truly sad part is what a full-scale & enduring lockout will mean to the league. Frankly, I don't think the sport can survive losing a season of hockey. Even if this issue is resolved in time to complete HALF a scheduled season of games, I'm betting that enough fans in smaller market cities will be alienated to the point that they'll just lose interest! Less interest will result in less ticket sales, which means less revenue for the teams, which means less money to spend on players, etc. etc. etc. Before you know it, the team folds, and people are out of their jobs.
Look at what happened to MLB ten years ago with the Baseball strike! Toronto still hasn't recovered from the loss of the season, and individual game attendance has been way way low since then. I don't think the Leafs will suffer at all if there's a strike (because hey, we're HOCKEY TOWN! You're lucky if you can get your hands on nosebleeds for a crappy game!), but less hockey-centric cities like Nashville or Columbus will probably lose a significant portion of their fanbase, and hence revenue.
It's a sad state of affairs when an athlete considers an average salary of 1.3 Million U.S. (plus a kick-ass pension, plus benefits, etc. etc. etc) to be to little. I wonder if the athletes & owners understand the true economics of the situation, and how some of the fans who are making 2% of their salaries (if we're lucky!) are the ones who are actually supporting them! The fans buy the tickets, the fans watch the NHL broadcasts on TV, and the fans buy the team & player branded sports apparel.
Shame on them...
A lockout will hurt everyone... players, owners, and fans alike.
Moe.