Once again, the players making too much money is bad but the owners can make as much as they want?

Yes, people making a lot less money are exploited too but in this case you're using this argument to devalue mine and I get why you're doing it. Sensationalizing this doesn't make you right. Everybody deserves to make more but those who own the businesses are exploiting their workers. Just because it's worse for some people doesn't mean it's fine for athletes. If their industry is booming then the people involved in that industry should make more.
- Pomegrant

the owners are Walmart

the players are the shirts and underwear you buy at Walmart

Once again, the players making too much money is bad but the owners can make as much as they want?

Yes, people making a lot less money are exploited too but in this case you're using this argument to devalue mine and I get why you're doing it. Sensationalizing this doesn't make you right. Everybody deserves to make more but those who own the businesses are exploiting their workers. Just because it's worse for some people doesn't mean it's fine for athletes. If their industry is booming then the people involved in that industry should make more.
- Pomegrant

Kind of like the auto workers...they agreed to serious salary cuts and benefit cuts when the industry was really crashing, but now that the industry is doing better and is profitable again, they want to get their piece of the pie, and I believe they have a right to get it in most cases.

the leafs, rangers, and so on yes they are making a ton of money. ... but how many teams are loosing money? How about them?

Put in a better revenue sharing system, luxury tax system what ever to help counter act it, but all im saying is the employees are eating up close to half the revenues. That is a very high and unrealistic number in any other form of business. Go ask your boss for half his revenue for you and your workers and you will be laughed out of the office

its a sport but its a business. Yes concessions should and will be made on both ends, but at the end of the day i will not feel bad for someone where the least amount of money they can make is a half a million dollars a year.

My neighbor works 70 hours a week for like 30 grand. You say hockey players devote their life to a sport... well he devotes his life to feeding his family. Wheres his 50%?

the leafs, rangers, and so on yes they are making a ton of money. ... but how many teams are loosing money? How about them?

Put in a better revenue sharing system, luxury tax system what ever to help counter act it, but all im saying is the employees are eating up close to half the revenues. That is a very high and unrealistic number in any other form of business. Go ask your boss for half his revenue for you and your workers and you will be laughed out of the office

its a sport but its a business. Yes concessions should and will be made on both ends, but at the end of the day i will not feel bad for someone where the least amount of money they can make is a half a million dollars a year.

My neighbor works 70 hours a week for like 30 grand. You say hockey players devote their life to a sport... well he devotes his life to feeding his family. Wheres his 50%?
- nightmare3020

Fans should go on strike over ticket prices.
- AlfieFever

Ticket prices are based on demand. Sucks if you're a leafs fan, but in other arenas they go for 10. Its not gonna change because people will still show up.

Hard to believe that a guy making 102 million dollars can make that statement..

Kind of like the auto workers...they agreed to serious salary cuts and benefit cuts when the industry was really crashing, but now that the industry is doing better and is profitable again, they want to get their piece of the pie, and I believe they have a right to get it in most cases.
- AlfieFever

Seriously? Please do some splaining Lucy....

and it takes a genius to just tell someone to phuck them selves and not debate an issue?
- nightmare3020

are you Gary Bettman?

the leafs, rangers, and so on yes they are making a ton of money. ... but how many teams are loosing money? How about them?

Put in a better revenue sharing system, luxury tax system what ever to help counter act it, but all im saying is the employees are eating up close to half the revenues. That is a very high and unrealistic number in any other form of business. Go ask your boss for half his revenue for you and your workers and you will be laughed out of the office

its a sport but its a business. Yes concessions should and will be made on both ends, but at the end of the day i will not feel bad for someone where the least amount of money they can make is a half a million dollars a year.

My neighbor works 70 hours a week for like 30 grand. You say hockey players devote their life to a sport... well he devotes his life to feeding his family. Wheres his 50%?
- nightmare3020

You don't understand. I believe all workers should make more across the board. Business the way it is now is unfair. There is enough for everybody, not just athletes. Keep being the real hardass because I don't care about your logical fallacies.

I guarantee the players making 500K a year would all like to show up and work on September 15th.

It's the owners that will lock them out.

The players would keep playing under the current CBA and aren't demanding anything more.

I guarantee the players making 500K a year would all like to show up and work on September 15th.

It's the owners that will lock them out.

The players would keep playing under the current CBA and aren't demanding anything more.
- jimbro83

Well according to our friend here the owners should be allowed to do whatever they please. The 10 years of restricted free agency before being able to hit the open market seemed really reasonable, right? Might as well suggest indentured servitude in their next proposal.

They all make too much money.
- lightz39

compared to the other 3 major sports, they really don't.

Well according to our friend here the owners should be allowed to do whatever they please.
- Pomegrant

im just playing devils advocate. I dont think either team is 100% right

is anyone MAKING them play in the nhl? no they do it because the prospects of making millions

could they play hockey anywhere else if they please ? yes they can in Europe, ahl, echl and hundreds of other places... but the prospects of making millions are much less and the conditions are much worse.... so they choose the nhl despite the evils owners.

when you are looking at jobs you look at the pay, the contract and everything then make your choice. Yes i understand there is a different standard in professional sports... but at the end of the day no one is making them play in the nhl its their choice..... and that is a fact you cannot dispute.

Well according to our friend here the owners should be allowed to do whatever they please. The 10 years of restricted free agency before being able to hit the open market seemed really reasonable, right? Might as well suggest indentured servitude in their next proposal.
- Pomegrant

We live in a capitalist society, this is the reality of it

Please comparing hockey players to walmart type employees... The sacrifices the players make to there families and health are deserving of the money considering with out there talent the league would be poop and not fun to watch. How can you sit there and side with these greedy scumbags who wont share money for the betterment of the league? Do you think the NFL got where it is today by casting out the lesser market teams? No they helped them out to grow the sport and keep the competition as equal as they can. And you seem to forgot the only (frank)ing reason these guys make as much as they do is because its what they get offered! I don't know about you but pretty sure zach parise and ryan suter didnt storm the Wilds front office armed to the teeth for battle to get the money they got this year.
- NickA

Sacrifices they make to their health and families? Talk to an Armed Forces serviceman/woman just back from Afganistan.......or go to any firehall in a major city........a police station, an emergency room in the hospital....blah blah blah.

As for growing the sport, how many years does it take to put fans in the seats in Phoenix?

There are a few teams with lots of money who don't care about the cap and salaries, they just want to win and will pay, ie Philadelphia/New York! Other team like Nashville HAVE to match them or lose what little fan base they have! Still other small market money losing teams HAVE to get a marquee player in to attract and keep fans.

Lastly, there's something wrong when it costs me over $1200 to take a family of 4 to see the 29th place Oilers play one game of hockey! Seriously.

compared to the other 3 major sports, they really don't.
- MartysBetter88

Every one of the major sports is WAY out of hand when it comes to salaries! Paying someone $25 or $30 million to play baseball for the summer......give me a fricken break!

so you are ok with owners having mansions and ferrari's, but it bothers you when the players do.
- jimbro83

How many businessmen will invest $150 million to $200 million in a business and not expect a return. In my business, over the past 8 years, the employees have bent over backwards to make the business more profitable for the owners, who have seen a 4 fold increase in profit. If we went to them and asked for 50% of that profit we would be shown the door. Us normal folks work hard for our companies to grow the business which in turn will continue to provide us with a salary/employment for years to come........that's the payback.

Sacrifices they make to their health and families? Talk to an Armed Forces serviceman/woman just back from Afganistan.......or go to any firehall in a major city........a police station, an emergency room in the hospital....blah blah blah.

As for growing the sport, how many years does it take to put fans in the seats in Phoenix?

There are a few teams with lots of money who don't care about the cap and salaries, they just want to win and will pay, ie Philadelphia/New York! Other team like Nashville HAVE to match them or lose what little fan base they have! Still other small market money losing teams HAVE to get a marquee player in to attract and keep fans.

Lastly, there's something wrong when it costs me over $1200 to take a family of 4 to see the 29th place Oilers play one game of hockey! Seriously.
- Bullot

That' just because it's Canada. The demand will always be there for hockey. If you were to go a 27th place Islanders game you could easily get 4 people for less than $100

the leafs, rangers, and so on yes they are making a ton of money. ... but how many teams are loosing money? How about them?

Put in a better revenue sharing system, luxury tax system what ever to help counter act it, but all im saying is the employees are eating up close to half the revenues. That is a very high and unrealistic number in any other form of business. Go ask your boss for half his revenue for you and your workers and you will be laughed out of the office

its a sport but its a business. Yes concessions should and will be made on both ends, but at the end of the day i will not feel bad for someone where the least amount of money they can make is a half a million dollars a year.

My neighbor works 70 hours a week for like 30 grand. You say hockey players devote their life to a sport... well he devotes his life to feeding his family. Wheres his 50%?
- nightmare3020

Unless I am mistaken, your neighbor isn't among the top 700 people in the world at his position.

If he or she was, they would probably be making more than 7 bucks an hour.

The fans are the ones being exploited. They have it down to a science on how best to extract as much as possible from fans without losing their business. The only way I see players and owners make less money is if we stop giving it to them (stop watching it on TV, stop going to games, stop buying merchandise) and that's not going to happen unless the economy crashes further and people seriously rethink their financial and personal priorities.
- AlfieFever

I agree with you I do but I just have to put this out here. You can stop watching them on TV yes and some revenue will stop. But you also will have to not buy ANY products that are advertised during the games as these are put on TV at the same time for money part of which goes to the team and part to the network. So along with not watching them you cant: Buy certain beer, eat at certain restaurants, buy certain clothing, video games, etc. It sucks that we the fans are going to miss out on games or maybe even a whole season due to this situation, I for one am neutral on this as I feel both sides could make some sacrifice but greed dictates the actions they are taking an that goes for both the NHL and the NHLPA. But unfortunately in life the victims of circumstances such as these are defenseless.

I agree with you I do but I just have to put this out here. You can stop watching them on TV yes and some revenue will stop. But you also will have to not buy ANY products that are advertised during the games as these are put on TV at the same time for money part of which goes to the team and part to the network. So along with not watching them you cant: Buy certain beer, eat at certain restaurants, buy certain clothing, video games, etc. It sucks that we the fans are going to miss out on games or maybe even a whole season due to this situation, I for one am neutral on this as I feel both sides could make some sacrifice but greed dictates the actions they are taking an that goes for both the NHL and the NHLPA. But unfortunately in life the victims of circumstances such as these are defenseless.
- Orphen22

I agree with your post. Everybody makes it seem that you have a choice in whether or not you support something. You really don't. Unless you want to phase out everything in your life you're going to be helping something you don't want. It would take a mass exodus of everybody in society to stop supporting everything all at once to make changes.

We're all exploited all the time.

How many businessmen will invest $150 million to $200 million in a business and not expect a return. In my business, over the past 8 years, the employees have bent over backwards to make the business more profitable for the owners, who have seen a 4 fold increase in profit. If we went to them and asked for 50% of that profit we would be shown the door. Us normal folks work hard for our companies to grow the business which in turn will continue to provide us with a salary/employment for years to come........that's the payback.
- Bullot

Funny thing is, you pretty much exactly described the state of the NHL over the past 8 years, and they aren't getting 50% of the profit, they are getting 50% of the revenue. Huge difference and chances are that's close to what a big business spends on salaries for its employees.

If you have to stop working at 35 and basically have no skills life can be difficult. These guys aren't always intelligent.
- Pomegrant

Plus all the tolls it plays on them, injury-wise and head trauma, among other things. Guys like Lapierre may never be able to work a real job again with the damage that was done, I'm sure there's guys that can barely walk or do normal things without some sort of pain from playing hockey as well.

That' just because it's Canada. The demand will always be there for hockey. If you were to go a 27th place Islanders game you could easily get 4 people for less than $100
- bobert836

Yep, that's true!

Funny thing is, you pretty much exactly described the state of the NHL over the past 8 years, and they aren't getting 50% of the profit, they are getting 50% of the revenue. Huge difference and chances are that's close to what a big business spends on salaries for its employees.
- bobert836

Not even close! Our salaries are 4% to 6% of the company net.