Todd Cordell: Ilya Kovalchuk Speaks up About CBA Negotiations

i just find it hard to find sympathy for guys getting millions ( or 500 k if you are a scrub) playing a game that millions of people pay hundreds or thousands year to play

Comments coming from someone with a $100MM contract. Yes Ilya, you lost a lot in 2004..

They all make too much money.

i just find it hard to find sympathy for guys getting millions ( or 500 k if you are a scrub) playing a game that millions of people pay hundreds or thousands year to play
- nightmare3020

This.

i just find it hard to find sympathy for guys getting millions ( or 500 k if you are a scrub) playing a game that millions of people pay hundreds or thousands year to play
- nightmare3020

I guess you feel better about owners keeping the money when they charge outrageous ticket prices than spending it on players then.

This.
- lightz39

do you get 50 % of your boss' revenues and guaranteed contracts regardless if he makes money or looses 10 mil without the option of being fired

doubtful

I guess you feel better about owners keeping the money when they charge outrageous ticket prices than spending it on players then.
- jimbro83

when did they hold a gun to your head and make you go to a game? Last time i checked i could sit in my couch and watch the games.

are you mad at walmarts CEO and the board making millions while people make minimum wage? Maybe you shouldnt go shopping there, or any company for that matter. Kinda gonna be hard for you to eat and buy cloths

guess what its how business works. If you dont like it go live in the woods and hide from society

Comments coming from someone with a $100MM contract. Yes Ilya, you lost a lot in 2004..
- sliprock65

In all fairness, he can still have that opinion even though it isn't as bad for him on a personal level. He is speaking about players in general not just himself. They did give up last time and therefore understandably feel like they shouldn't give up again.

when did they hold a gun to your head and make you go to a game? Last time i checked i could sit in my couch and watch the games.

are you mad at walmarts CEO and the board making millions while people make minimum wage? Maybe you shouldnt go shopping there, or any company for that matter. Kinda gonna be hard for you to eat and buy cloths

guess what its how business works. If you dont like it go live in the woods and hide from society
- nightmare3020

You're making money for them by watching on TV too.

Also, you can be a giant company that makes a lot of money that doesn't treat their employees like poop. The players make the money for the owners and if the owners are making a ton of money then their players should get more too.

Your thing about how the players making a ton of money anyway is BS. A lot of these guys devoted their life to hockey and literally have no other skills. If you are making league minimum your entire life and scraping by you'll need to be very frugal to save enough for the rest of your life. Plus this kind of stuff is difficult seeing that a lot of these low level players need to move around a lot too compared to the big guys.

Think you're real tough for being a "realist"? Just because something is the way it is doesn't mean it is not unjust and that we can't do something about it.

In all fairness, he can still have that opinion even though it isn't as bad for him on a personal level. He is speaking about players in general not just himself. They did give up last time and therefore understandably feel like they shouldn't give up again.
- dionschenn

As the most high profile player on the Devils now somebody needs to stick up for the guys on his team that are making the least. In sports you earn your dues just like in most other facets of life and he earned his contract. If you were offered $100 million to live our your dream would you decline? People try to make him out as a villain and it's just silly.

Fans should go on strike over ticket prices.

Hockey is the #4 sport in the US behind NFL, MLB and the NBA - the players receive a much lower share in those leagues - NHLPA I believe cannot ask for more percentage of what those players in those leagues are making

when did they hold a gun to your head and make you go to a game? Last time i checked i could sit in my couch and watch the games.

are you mad at walmarts CEO and the board making millions while people make minimum wage? Maybe you shouldnt go shopping there, or any company for that matter. Kinda gonna be hard for you to eat and buy cloths

guess what its how business works. If you dont like it go live in the woods and hide from society
- nightmare3020

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.

You're making money for them by watching on TV too.

Also, you can be a giant company that makes a lot of money that doesn't treat their employees like poop. The players make the money for the owners and if the owners are making a ton of money then their players should get more too.

Your thing about how the players making a ton of money anyway is BS. A lot of these guys devoted their life to hockey and literally have no other skills. If you are making league minimum your entire life and scraping by you'll need to be very frugal to save enough for the rest of your life. Plus this kind of stuff is difficult seeing that a lot of these low level players need to move around a lot too compared to the big guys.

Think you're real tough for being a "realist"? Just because something is the way it is doesn't mean it is not unjust and that we can't do something about it.
- Pomegrant

What the (frank) kind of crack are you on bro? I make $80,000 a year and am well off. They can refrain from buying (frank)ing mansions and Ferrari's I'm sure of it.

One of the toughest sports not only physically but mentally, these guys deserve the big bucks imo.

What the (frank) kind of crack are you on bro? I make $80,000 a year and am well off. They can refrain from buying (frank)ing mansions and Ferrari's I'm sure of it.
- lightz39

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

What the (frank) kind of crack are you on bro? I make $80,000 a year and am well off. They can refrain from buying (frank)ing mansions and Ferrari's I'm sure of it.
- lightz39

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

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

Right on.

Exploitation of the player's labor.

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.

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 like you.

Todd Cordell: Ilya Kovalchuk Speaks up About CBA Negotiations
- Todd.Cordell

doomed

I like you.
- Pomegrant

Thanks...I think.

You're making money for them by watching on TV too.


- Pomegrant

obviously, but guess what i pay for cable tv for more reasons then just hockey. I have no problem watching them on a service i already pay for.

Yes fans are the reason they make money ... but to get all angry at them for making money is foolish. If they didnt make millions there wouldnt be any professional sports like the nhl or nfl

Im not saying the players should take what ever deal is given to them, im just saying they are making LEAGUE MINIMUM half a million dollars... try not to play the victim is all i am saying.

How many people work their ass off 30 grand a year, working 40-70 hours a week. Pretty much devoting their lives to a job.

obviously, but guess what i pay for cable tv for more reasons then just hockey. I have no problem watching them on a service i already pay for.

Yes fans are the reason they make money ... but to get all angry at them for making money is foolish. If they didnt make millions there wouldnt be any professional sports like the nhl or nfl

Im not saying the players should take what ever deal is given to them, im just saying they are making LEAGUE MINIMUM half a million dollars... try not to play the victim is all i am saying.

How many people work their ass off 30 grand a year, working 40-70 hours a week. Pretty much devoting their lives to a job.
- nightmare3020

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.