Lockout

[Bear55]

SO is the NHL going to start on time or not at all? Hard not to be pizzed right now when the Wild finally do something amazing in the off season and now we have to sit and wait and wonder.

Thankfully we have college puck, I've alwasy been a bigger fan of the college game anyway but still hoping to watch some NHL this year.

[PierBridge]

I'll be shocked if we start on time. That being said all we need is around a 60 game season to make me happy.

Go Wild/Gophs!

[OnAFly]

I think there will be a lockout. From everything being said, it sounds like a stalemate for now. I cancelled my cable, so I'm missing it either way. I'll have to listen and catch the occasional game at the neighbors place this season (if there is one).

I wonder if these guys understand how much the last lockout hurt the game in terms of viewership. The game is just getting back to the level is left off at and probably still wasn't there in a lot of the US. Now this will set them back further.

[archerystud]

At this point I'm betting you won't see a lot of movement until the lockout date. Since both sides are almost $20M apart on a salary cap per season at this point I would bet that there will not be a season.

For now I'm totally siding with the owners. Any salary increase will get passed on down to the fans anyway and the tickets already seem pretty high to me.

I sat at the X once on the upper level ends and will never do that again.

So the cheapest option for me would be about $150 (family of 3 and parking) just to get in the door.

I do prefer college and to compare my tickets to the X for the Final 5 are like $150 for the entire package and we are center ice lower level. Much better value IMO.

[Bear55]

Sounds like the owners are making another proposal today. Their first one was pretty bad but obviously a starting point. Players didn't do any better in their counter proposal. Lets see some progress!

[OnAFly]

I see the owners point of view as well. From the numbers I've seen, the players of the NHL make more as a percentage of the total profits than any other major sport. Take that combined with cap circumventing contracts (Kovalchuck, Luongo, PARISE, SUTER), an ever increasing cap, markets that are continuously struggling, and a conference scheme that flat out doesn't make sense and you have a broken system. Something needs to change and hopefully it won't take another missed season to do it.

I don't go to many games, but man it sure does cost a ton to do it, regardless of where you sit.

[Bear55]

I'm leaning owners too. Just do a 50/50 split and be done with it.

[yakfisher]

I just came back from Ottowa today and they don't have a good feeling about this one up north. One of the customs guys said he talked to a player the other day, and the player said wasn't even working out yet.

[Bear55]

Yep they are pretty far apart and each proposal has been pretty one sided. Players making a counter soon but I don't count on much progress. I hope to see at least a 60 game season at this point, not much hope of it starting on time.

[toughguy]

I hope they figure it out soon. Even with the Vikings win yesterday it's going to be a long football season. I'm hoping hockey will give us a chance to watch a winner this winter.

[OnAFly]

I'm betting there will be a lockout and at minimum missed games. I would not be surprised at a lost season. With Fehr at the helm of the NHLPA, you know they won't back down easily.

[Bear55]

Yep not getting a good feeling about this one. At least Parise and Suter will be well paid.

[OnAFly]

Once the lockout start, no player gets paid. Though, they did get nice signing bonuses, so I'm sure they are happy about that.

[Bear55]

Yep pretty much what I was talking about, I think each gets a 2 mil salary and 10 million signing bonus the first two years.

[fishing tech]

I think Bettman is an silly-me. They could play under the old agreement and not turn fans away from the game but he won't allow that. He has little man sindrome and needs to go. He was the one who need to expand the league in the south and it hasn't worked out. Why make the players sit and the fans not get to see the best in the world.

Sorry had to vent. Go Gophers!!

[OnAFly]

Yeah, he could let the players play the season out, but he also reached out to the NHLPA in January and got nothing. The players are taking over half the revenue and the owners are taking all the risk. To me, a 50-50 split with some concessions on escrow and RFA terms by the players would be a good solution. But, hey what do I know. I don't run an NHL team.

As far as the whole hockey moving south thing, there's less to debate there. Places like Dallas, Columbus, Phoenix, Florida, and others struggling to make it are proof that the southward plan was too much, too fast. On the other side, prior to the cap instituted in '05 there were a lot of Canadian and northern US teams that just weren't cutting it either.

[Bear55]

More talks today but I don't expect much.

[archerystud]

Sounds like the players haven't budged and still want 57%. They have much less risk and they want a majority of the pie. I'm totally blaming the players and Donald Fehr for this one.

I truly believe that sometimes the players completely neglect the fans which is what makes them what they are.

[solbes]

So frustrating for this to be the lock out year. Players are going to have to give up some revenue. Owners are so rich anyway, this will not affect them in the short term.

If this goes on past the holidays, I think we see a serious step back for the NHL though. I'm sure the owners would not want this. Its a fringe top 4 sport that has some passionate die hard fans that will come back (most of us), but also some fans that are much more casual.

[Bear55]

Yep just when I was getting excited about the NHL this happens again. I also side with the owners, although they are partly to blame for this mess. Eventually the owners will win, I just hope it doesn't take the players a year to figure that out. I want a permanent fix, I might bounche back from this one but if they pull this *&(^ every 5-10 years I am done.

[solbes]

Took a look at gross revenues across the big 4 sports. Bizofbaseball.com had this graphic on revenues (may be a couple of years old). Shows pretty clearly how far down the list NHL is. If I was the commish, I would be looking to close the revenue gap long term, not widen it by alienating fans with a lockout.

[TomWehler]

Could be a fun WILD season if it pans out.

Last lockout we dumped out season tickets...besides...so much to do OUTSIDE.

NFL is full of ads none stop so only can handle the best games weekly...sad sad league there also.

Anything with Joe Buck in it has to SUCK!

NHL kind of BLOWS until after All Star game nowadayz anyway..except for fights an few rival games.

Most BIG NAME players playing NOT to get cluncked out.

At 57 an a life time of hockey this is just sad to see..AGAIN.

No cup is as much fun as it would have been in North Stars Era as then it was a TEAM league not a money league. Money came in around 1992 an totaly &^%$# up the whole deal.

Fave game to watch but league is week an to many teams so medium to low skill players get a shot an that is so boring.

Bettmen always has reminded me of Count Chocula cereal dude.

Kind of creepy an now he has the shakes so watch out when he is dealing.

Love my hockey but these messes make Outside stuff an old movies a lot more fun.

Keep on rocken!

Tommy

[OnAFly]

There's a really good article explaining the two offers what where they differ here

[Jarrod32]

There's a really good article explaining the two offers what where they differ here

That is a good article. That offer the players have on the table is really interesting...

[Bear55]

Looks like they are inching closer, someone step up and go 50/50 and we can get on with this already.

[OnAFly]

Russo's STrib article is all doom and gloom. He thinks both sides are in this for the long haul and will dig in until the other caves.

The thing that bugs me is that the NHL has made some concessions. They started at an unrealistic point and moved closer to the middle. The response from the NHLPA was basically "We won't bother discussing anything less than what we get now, in fact we want more."

I don't have a lot of sympathy for the players here. They chose to hire Fehr, now we're going to have a lockout as everyone predicted the day he was hired. The guy doesn't want what is best for the league and players in the long run, he only wants as much as he can force the NHL to give the players right now, even if it's detrimental to the league as a whole.

The guy would rather see the players get a penny more and the league go belly up than the players take a penny cut and the league stay healthy.

[mr_jman]

Looks as if the Lockout is all but a guarantee now... Hope they can get something figured out and at least have A season this year of some length.

[archerystud]

I think both sides are going to dig in for a little while. I suspect some movement in Nov and Dec but then they will cancel the season.

At least we have college hockey here to watch!!! Better game anyway IMO.

[OnAFly]

Last time they waited til Feb 16th to officially cancel the season. We'll see if it makes it that far this time. Hopefully this one is backed by posturing and we'll be watching NHL hockey here in a couple months.

Who knows.

[mulefarm]

Have to side with the players on this one. The players were willing to continue under old agreement and to continue negotiating. The owners found ways to get around the last contract and signed players to ridiculous long term contracts, in fact they did right up to the lockout. The players conceded a lot on the last CBA and are willing to give some this time. I think the entry level and years to become a free agent are major sticking points, more than the percent of money each gets. Time for Bettman to hit the road, he is really a clown.