If the NHL strikes even for a minute....Fans everywhere should boycott attending games for the year!

NHL is the worst run league in all of sports everywhere. Absolutely a joke!
Every aspect of the NHL is a joke

Refs are brutal and the disciplinary committee is even worse.

NHL needs to clean up it's act from A to Z and do it in a hurry!

when the players proposed their deal 2 weeks ago, didn't it have a 50-50 split? i thought the owners shot that down.
- blacksheep1

Not really no. After 4 years, it also reverted back to the 57-43.
The players' offer was as stupid as the owners'.

This does not get resolved until one side feels a lot of pain.

Wahh Wahh Wahh...I'm paying you too much money but here Shea/Ryan/Zach have $100M each. No sympathy here for the owners. You have set a standard market value each year with your big contracts that you give out. You made your bed, now sleep in it. I want hockey god dammit.
- trolleytracks

When the owners agree to not pay these guys that kind of money and suddenly free agents aren't able to get these contracts from anyone.

That is when the collusion charges start. This happened in baseball. It could just as easily happen in hockey.

The "owners are the problem" arguement is not as cut and dried as it first appears.

Eklund: Important Day. NHL To Present New Offer. Sides May Break for a Week or More
- Eklund

How was the last question of the pole "even more alarming?" The results were pretty much the exact same as they were on the 16th.

I'm getting tired of people saying that a lock out will be the end of the game for most fans. What have we been hearing for the last 7 years? "The game has never been better." Viewership records kept getting broken and people were talking about hockey finally competing with basketball in the states. Every Canadian rink was sold out almost every single night. And this all happened within a few years of a lock out.
Yes, a lockout would be bad for everyone. But for every fan who claims to have "walked away" from hockey after the last lockout, the sport has gained 5 more fans in their place.

The league would split profit and expenses as a whole. This is revenue shairing but without losses. The current owner share percentage based on the revenue percentage at time of incorporation. There would no longer be loss just less profit. It would support the league's success.
- stevecarpetman

and why would Toronto, Montreal or NYR agree to something like that? On top of less profits, it also hurts the value of the franchise.

Fans lie. Like the addicts they are (myself included) they will nearly all come back. I very much doubt any more than 1 or 2% will give up on watching the game for more than a week or 2 if that.

Fans lie. Like the addicts they are (myself included) they will nearly all come back. I very much doubt any more than 1 or 2% will give up on watching the game for more than a week or 2 if that.
- BiggE

exactly. Most would be pumped as soon as it was announced it was over.

then maybe your blog could be a little more educational than emotional.
- Fountain-San

He writes what he understands.

Location, location, location... you do not buy a $100,000 fixer-upper house and expect to live like Trump and that is what owners of small markets do. In the end, it is bad management by the owners from the early days, the problem has grown and people have made a lot of money but putting a $50,000 kitchen in a $100,000 house is not a good idea, just like throughing a $100,000,000 at a hockey player in a small market is not a good idea but in the end it is the owner and not the player who puts the rubber stamp on it, yes the players can ask for it but if you can not afford it as an owner, SAY NO...
- HABZROCK

The league needs those small market teams in those big city markets for television contracts.

If the NHL strikes even for a minute....Fans everywhere should boycott attending games for the year!

NHL is the worst run league in all of sports everywhere. Absolutely a joke!
Every aspect of the NHL is a joke

Refs are brutal and the disciplinary committee is even worse.

NHL needs to clean up it's act from A to Z and do it in a hurry!
- MatsNaslund

Great plan but it won't happen because teams like Montreal and Toronto have waiting lists for season tickets, adn they are corporation driven.

and why would Toronto, Montreal or NYR agree to something like that? On top of less profits, it also hurts the value of the franchise.
- stormey

If you are going to revenue share, you would have more control of the way business is run in those small market teams, and you would have a vote on budget etc. instead of blindly throwing money as they are forced to now.

Why did they use the Jets for Winnipeg? They could have used the blackflies, or mosquitos, which would have been more geographically fitting. LOL

Great plan but it won't happen because teams like Montreal and Toronto have waiting lists for season tickets, adn they are corporation driven.
- stevecarpetman

that doesn't make sense.

If there is a third lockout...he needs to be fired. End of story
- meduser

So he's got another CBA with you then? Since the first stoppage was a strike and all. This will be his second lockout.

well the meeting this morning lasted only 45 minutes.......

At least there may be one this afternoon

The league would split profit and expenses as a whole. This is revenue shairing but without losses. The current owner share percentage based on the revenue percentage at time of incorporation. There would no longer be loss just less profit. It would support the league's success.
- stevecarpetman

So explain why the Leafs, Canadiens, Rangers, Flyers, Bruins, Red Wings and Canucks would be willing to share their profits with the Coyotes, Blue Jackets, Blues, Islanders, Panthers, Sabres and Capitals. What are they getting in return? An increased ability to spend to their heart's content? An increased voice in how everyone else operates? They're not just going to hand over profits for the greater good - they're only going to do it if they get something that specifically benefits them at everyone else's expense; what exactly is that?

EDIT: you partially answered with this ...

If you are going to revenue share, you would have more control of the way business is run in those small market teams, and you would have a vote on budget etc. instead of blindly throwing money as they are forced to now.
- stevecarpetman

Do you really think low-revenue teams are going to hand over control of their team to the high-revenue teams in exchange for a small share of profits? If high-revenue teams can dictate how low-revenue teams operate, what's to stop them from saying "we're going to spend to the moon, the rest of you can only spend crumbs - and guess what? Even if we lose money and you manage to make it, you get to subsidize our free-spending ways?"

At least you admit it's never going to happen - and you're absolutely right about that. It won't for a variety of reasons, the least of which are outlined above.

Why did they use the Jets for Winnipeg? They could have used the blackflies, or mosquitos, which would have been more geographically fitting. LOL
- stevecarpetman

oh SNAP!!!!

So he's got another CBA with you then? Since the first stoppage was a strike and all. This will be his second lockout.
- LOLKessel

1994 was a lockout, not a strike. The only time the players went on strike was in 1992, during the Gil Stein Reign of Error. The owners learned their lesson that year, and were [and still are] hell bent on making sure the players never have the ability to pull that kind of move again.

Your poll should go out in a forum where there are only "casual" hockey fans. Of course the majority of ppl on your poll are NHL "lifers" this is a hockey only website.

How about those casual, or new fans the NHL was trying to cultivate? What do they think??? It's with them where the NHL will take one step forward in the last 5 years then 2 steps back w/another lockout.

Bad business for Bettman and the owners... you can't take market share if your store ain't open.

How was the last question of the pole "even more alarming?" The results were pretty much the exact same as they were on the 16th.

I'm getting tired of people saying that a lock out will be the end of the game for most fans. What have we been hearing for the last 7 years? "The game has never been better." Viewership records kept getting broken and people were talking about hockey finally competing with basketball in the states. Every Canadian rink was sold out almost every single night. And this all happened within a few years of a lock out.
Yes, a lockout would be bad for everyone. But for every fan who claims to have "walked away" from hockey after the last lockout, the sport has gained 5 more fans in their place.
- hankthetank

I think the only thing that can truly drive fans away is bad ownership. Look further than the pre-lockout Bruins. Mention them and you were laughed at. Credit to them for turning it around after the lockout though. But all of this from Owners, Players, Fans and a starving Media is all posturing. Just get the (frank)ing deal done already. Does who makes what or retains what truly affect your life? Nope.

BTW, for everyone who swears to God the NHL would have been better off going back to ESPN:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsp...to-keep-baseball/related/

So, that's $700 million a year on MLB, to go with over $1 billion a year on the NFL and at least $500 million a year on the NBA ... and I haven't even mentioned college football and college basketball. Even if the NHL had been able to get $150 million per year from ESPN [IIRC their last offer was something like $80 million], that's still a fraction of the money being paid by ESPN to the other 3 leagues combined [about 6.3%]; thinking that the NHL would have received prime-time exposure is laughable.

BTW, for everyone who swears to God the NHL would have been better off going back to ESPN:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsp...to-keep-baseball/related/

So, that's $700 million a year on MLB, to go with over $1 billion a year on the NFL and at least $500 million a year on the NBA ... and I haven't even mentioned college football and college basketball. Even if the NHL had been able to get $150 million per year from ESPN
- Irish Blues[IIRC their last offer was something like $80 million], that's still a fraction of the money being paid by ESPN to the other 3 leagues combined [about 6.3%]; thinking that the NHL would have received prime-time exposure is laughable.

Also ESPN sucks donkey balls and is geared towards douchey Lebron fans

Football got it done last year no reason why Hockey cant get this done. The popularity of the game is great and growing. This will be a real deal breaker for both the owners and players and i think they both know that. At least I hope they both know that.

Can understand why they meet then break for a week or two....sit there till they knock out an agreement!!!
- Skeezix459

I agree 100% with tis. I jsut don't get al the breaks. What hell else are they doing? Meet and discuss.

actually i dont think any of the polls = 100% why are some numbers dropping off?
- blufferkid

It's the way Twiigs rounds the numbers. They always round down to the nearest number. If you scroll your cursor to the percentage line on each voting choice, you can get the actual number of votes for it.