They should be.... I work for a gun manufacturer and if the Army, Police, FBI, CIA and other departments and law enforcement stopped buying our weapons we would be screwed.... Civilians do buy but its only 29 percent of our sales

That's how I look at it and I'm just really sick to know they dont care about the fans

Thats really just BULL CRAP
- Flyers_1488

are you in a union and work off a collectively bargained contract?

You mean those smart savvy billionaire Owners who create their own problems year after year. And again need a bailout from the players to protect them from themselves?
- MJL

As someone tweeted yesterday, one of these braniacs will probably offer Kevin Westgarth a 14 year deal.

Sure we are. Did you think they'd sign a CBA without negotiating who'll cover the costs of painting 'Thank you, fans! Again!' on 30 rinks?
- BulliesPhan87

i did not think of that.

I completely disagree with the bold. Here is an analogy for you. You are selling your house. It is valued at 300,000. There is exactly one buyer in the market, and his buyer's agent offers you 200,000. And by the way, he has a reputation in the town for being a tough negotiator who always "wins". You tell him you can't sell it for this price, and to please come back with a different offer.

The agent then comes back with three proposals.

1. He'll pay 250,000, but then you give him back $50,000.
2. He'll pay $154,000 EURO (which is 200,000 us dollars)
3. He'll pay you 51,000 each of the next 4 years (which adjusted for inflation is 200,000).

But there are no other buyers, so you are at an impasse. You cannot sell your house for that price, but he is not negotiating. And the actual buyer really wants the house. So maybe you can talk to the actual buyer and reason with him, to see if he can make a better offer.
- TheGreat28

2 words, Rent Investment

are you in a union and work off a collectively bargained contract?
- Fountain-San

No but I understand your point but im just sharing how I feel

I could always write a letter saying how I got to meet the owners and spent 25k a year on tickets

No but I understand your point but im just sharing how I feel

I could always write a letter saying how I got to meet the owners and spent 25k a year on tickets ;)
- Flyers_1488

i hear ya.

you racist.

i hear ya.

you racist.
- Fountain-San

You couldn't help yourself could you??

You couldn't help yourself could you??
- Flyers_1488

nope.

Id rather them leave that POC Jacobs out of the meeting.

I just want to say I have a had a great time coming to this website and reading rumors and gossip. i had a great time talking to other fans of this wonderful sport. I am sad to say though I have had enough and I am done with hockey. the only sport that had some integrity left shattered right before my eyes. To many money hungry men in the league and behind each team. Money has killed this sport and it will never recover. I hate giving up the sport I love but I have no other choice. My 9 year old son was learning how to skate and to play the sport but now has no ambition to do so. Thank you NHL for the years but here is one fan that willnever EVER watch or pay any money to you again.

I agree 100% with Bill Meltzer's blog this morning RE: owners meeting directly with players. And that line of thinking is EXACTLY why Bettman proposed it. He knows the players, with little business acumen, would get eaten alive by the owners.

Bettman is a scumbag.

I just want to say I have a had a great time coming to this website and reading rumors and gossip. i had a great time talking to other fans of this wonderful sport. I am sad to say though I have had enough and I am done with hockey. the only sport that had some integrity left shattered right before my eyes. To many money hungry men in the league and behind each team. Money has killed this sport and it will never recover. I hate giving up the sport I love but I have no other choice. My 9 year old son was learning how to skate and to play the sport but now has no ambition to do so. Thank you NHL for the years but here is one fan that willnever EVER watch or pay any money to you again.
- kasperrko

oh stop it. leave work and go skate with your son and stop being so dramatic.

Id rather them leave that POC Jacobs out of the meeting.
- Popcorn Kid

yup.

oh stop it. leave work and go skate with your son and stop being so dramatic.
- Fountain-San

Thank you, I was wondering for a second if hockey as a whole was in lockout. That bunch of morons will never stop me from playing ice hockey and ball hockey. Now, watching NHL hockey when it will be back? Probably less.

oh stop it. leave work and go skate with your son and stop being so dramatic.
- Fountain-San

Next on days of our lives, Jim comes out of his 3rd coma to find out there is another lockout and. . . .

I just want to say I have a had a great time coming to this website and reading rumors and gossip. i had a great time talking to other fans of this wonderful sport. I am sad to say though I have had enough and I am done with hockey. the only sport that had some integrity left shattered right before my eyes. To many money hungry men in the league and behind each team. Money has killed this sport and it will never recover. I hate giving up the sport I love but I have no other choice. My 9 year old son was learning how to skate and to play the sport but now has no ambition to do so. Thank you NHL for the years but here is one fan that willnever EVER watch or pay any money to you again.
- kasperrko

Completely understand how you feel. But you do have another choice. And that's not giving up the sport you love. I for one, am not going to punish myself futher when Hockey returns. Why should I remove something from my life that I totally enjoy. Because they can't get it together and figure it out? I refuse to let their actions cause myself to lose that enjoyment.

Because owners/GMs cannot help themselves. They let their egos get in the way. The only time they "care about the business" is when it comes time to negotiate a new CBA. Once it is signed they go back to their drunken sailor spending ways.

They thought they fixed the problem in '05. Guess what? Can't fix stupid. They dug themselves another hole and now we are where we are. The problem is self inflicted. The players/agents did not force the owners to dole out $98 million dollar contracts. Their egos wouldn't let them do anything else.


- Scoob

i hear ya.

you racist.
- Fountain-San

Tsk... Tsk... Tsk...

Everyone that keeps citing how much money the players stand to lose forgets that the next CBA sets the tone for every CBA to follow. It's not as if had they signed Bettman's "best deal" than he'd be so happy he'd bend over for them next time, he'd just try to screw them over again. Maybe if they lose another season or more, the owners will try negotiating a little nicer in the future.
- golfingsince

Next on days of our lives, Jim comes out of his 3rd coma to find out there is another lockout and. . . .
- Cfser

Why did I read this post in the Arrested Development narrator's voice?

Normally I am also very cynical, and might be inclined to agree with you. However in this case I completely disagree with the statement in bold.

At this point I think that the owners firmly believe they cannot operate with the PA's last proposal, that Fehr is the one keeping the players from thinking about this rationally and reasonably, and that if they cannot make the players see this they will have no choice but to cancel the season. I'm not arguing if they are right or wrong...but I do think that this is their thought process.

There is no benefit to a PR move to win fan support. Fan support is not going to get Fehr and the players to break.

Now, IF the above is right, for everyone who thinks that it is stupid for the owners to lose billions over a couple of hundred million, you have to ask yourselves why they would even consider this. Could it be that they personally hate Fehr and the union and want to break them? Possibly. But I have been in many negotiations where it was very contentious and one or both parties absolutely disliked the other, but personalities were put aside to get a deal they can live with.

So maybe, given the financials of ALL of the teams, this is not a deal they can live with.
- TheGreat28

However, in the NHL's lockout history and even more importantly in Bettman's lockout history the feelings of personal resentment is a recurring theme. Bettman and Goodenow couldn't be in the same room together without screaming at each other while trying to "negotiate" a new CBA. The lockout ended when the deputies met separately and alone to actually negotiate a deal.

Everyone that keeps citing how much money the players stand to lose forgets that the next CBA sets the tone for every CBA to follow. It's not as if had they signed Bettman's "best deal" than he'd be so happy he'd bend over for them next time, he'd just try to screw them over again. Maybe if they lose another season or more, the owners will try negotiating a little nicer in the future.
- golfingsince

Here's the problem with that.

This year the players stand to lose 1.8billion of salary which is their share at 57%. If they then went down to 50%, the next time the negotiations would happen (7years), they would be up to 2.7billion of salary according to Fehr's 7% increase each year.

So the next negotiation, even if they would go from 50% to 43%, they would still be at 2.3billion in salary which is higher than their current 1.8 at 57%.

Basically your argument is irrelenvant when the players will always make more than they did after the last CBA.

I just want to say I have a had a great time coming to this website and reading rumors and gossip. i had a great time talking to other fans of this wonderful sport. I am sad to say though I have had enough and I am done with hockey. the only sport that had some integrity left shattered right before my eyes. To many money hungry men in the league and behind each team. Money has killed this sport and it will never recover. I hate giving up the sport I love but I have no other choice. My 9 year old son was learning how to skate and to play the sport but now has no ambition to do so. Thank you NHL for the years but here is one fan that willnever EVER watch or pay any money to you again.
- kasperrko

Thats like teexting calling your sub-par, slump buster booty call at 10 o'clock tonight telling her your done calling her at 3am. Because you know you'll be leaving the bar at 2:59 am, with that cell phone in our hand. And you know what comes next.

Sure we are. Did you think they'd sign a CBA without negotiating who'll cover the costs of painting 'Thank you, fans! Again!' on 30 rinks?
- BulliesPhan87

After all, we "are the best fans in the world" so a thank you on the ice is all we need

Where's the guy who guaranteed a deal by the end of this week a few days ago?