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Little Support for Fan Rallies

September 17, 2012, 11:51 PM ET [87 Comments]
Dee Karl
New York Islanders Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
There were supposed to be demonstrations of angry NHL fans on Saturday in various cities protesting the lock-out. As much as we, the fans, have made noise on the Internet, it couldn’t stop the inevitable.

According to PuckDaddy, only about 20 fans showed up at the NHL store. According to my friend, Dr. David Lubin from Tampa Bay, only about 17 fans made it outside the Forum. Have we become apathetic or did we just know there really is nothing we can do about this? Wait, was there football on TV?

Dr. Lubin, a fellow NHL 7thMan contest winner from 2004, has seen his team win the Stanley Cup from his seats in the 300s. He then had to wait until after the ‘04 lock-out for the Bolts to raise the Stanley Cup Banner. He has lived through good times and bad times, but has always been there for them. But maybe not this time.

“Both sides and the fans will lose tremendously. It's not really bothering me for some reason and I could decide not to be a season ticket holder anymore, even at only $9 a seat. It's just really stupid. Owners want to rollback the salary cap and the players to cut contracts already in place...yet they continue to dole out millions with multiyear contracts. Makes no sense to me.”


It doesn’t make sense to most of us.

“With everything our owner has done to make games worth going to, like discounting food and drinks by 25% and putting millions of dollars of improvements into the Forum, as well as getting some decent talent and keeping what we have. It's just a shame that Bettman can't work something out to make it equitable between owners and players, and as long as players keep getting overpaid, this will continue.”


Yes, fans of other teams, Tampa Bay is an ownership group that is trying everything to keep the game and the team healthy in South Florida. Some other teams have not been as aggressive in their efforts or as lucky.

And therein lies the problem with the league. For seven years, some clubs became less profitable while the salary cap rose at an insane rate. In order to compete for the top talent, general managers found loopholes in the CBA to bring talent in under the cap. Players can now make millions of dollars for more than a decade under a cap system that eats up 57% of the hockey related revenue. No other sport is divided that way.

Of course, the players don’t want to give that up, and of course the owners want them to. Listen to Bill Daly who spent his entire day today discussing the League’s position on countless radio shows. He made his points while Mathieu Schneider made the NHLPA’s. Equal time was given in an effort for balance while my personal apathy grew. Although I had to laugh from Mick Kern called the video presentation by the NHLPA “crap.”

So while the two sides are very far apart in their thinking, many people will lose out on paychecks. The Edmonton Oilers have already laid off workers. The NY Islanders have not issued any layoff notices-- yet. But there are also other victims of an NHL Lockout and that is the local charity organizations that look forward to the generous donations the clubs provide.


Dr. Lubin mentioned the $50,000 Tampa Bay donates to charity from every home game.

“That's $2 million a year and committed for 5 years. Those people will lose because of it too.”


We tend to forget how far reaching this sport actually is. Probably because we are perpetually told how little attention is paid to it.

The Islanders Charity golf game is still on for Wednesday of this week at Bethpage. Hopefully the weather will hold up for it. Because the stormy skies of the NHL lockout don’t look as though they will clear any time soon.








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