NHL Lockout

Just wondering what the thoughts are on the NHL lockout or really if anyone cares?
As a Canadian I grew up playing hockey and also watching NHL since I was five years old (yes stereotypical but true) so this lockout is pissing me off to say the least! This battle between millionaires and billionaires has no end in sight and I truly believe the season is toast! Also wondering and this is directed mainly to fellow clan members in the southern states, is this lockout getting any media coverage at all? My guess would be not at all with the exception of States that have a franchise such as Florida, Texas etc.

I listen to sports radio and with so much else going on in Nor Cal right now. 49ers back in there old form and the giants fighting for there lifes in the NLCS that its not being talked about at all. The sharks are launching there minor league team the bulls in S.F this year so that could be apeaseing the small percentage of hockey fans down here.

Way to promote the stereotype swelch....this lockout is to me more about the regular Jose's that are getting fucked.....the people who work at the venues and sports bars that rely on these games to make money. It always makes me laugh when a guy that makes millions to play a game feels he needs to be treated better. These guys have access to the best doctors, nutritionists, state of the art gyms and are highly paid seems like they are doing just fine. This is just another example of a greedy union.

I don't think it is talked about that much here because everyone is tired of hearing about locked out millionaires. Between the NBA, NFL and now the NHL (again), everyone is getting tired of hearing "How do we share all the money we make off the poor fans?" 15 years ago, when I was still single, I used to have season tickets to Colts games and Pacers games, but they continued to raise ticket prices so much I couldn't afford to keep renewing them anymore. If I want to take my family to just one football game, I would be looking at spending almost $400 between the tickets, parking and concessions. It's been years since I've been to a game as a result. I will watch the major sports on tv, but I refuse to pay my hard earned money for them to argue about who gets paid more.

The lockout sux ass

Greedy bastards still have more money than any of us will every see in our lifetimes... and they can't agree on how to split it up.

Owners cry they are losing money.. but yet the same shithead owners go out and sign guys to $100 million dollar contracts... only to then try to get rid of said player 3-4 years down the line when it doesn't work out... then nobody wants him... and they have to eat most of the contract. But from what I've heard they ARE losing a lot of money... with that said... STOP SIGNING GUYS to these crazy contracts!

Players... I'm kind of on their side on this... a little... but still... there are too many guys signing these huge ass salaries... and not leaving enough for the rest of the middle/lower end players. And then these mega contract guys turn out to be shit too.

That's one thing Ive never understood... why sign for so much money to the point the team cant sign more players of higher caliber???

I'd rather make less, and then win some Stanley Cups!! I mean how much money do you need??

Nobody remembers the high paid salary guys.. they remember the guys holding that Stanley cup over their head.


Plus I may be wrong but is the current contract (or the "old" one.. don't players get like 57% of the money?? Again I don't have all my facts in, but that may be the best deal in the major sports bargaining agreements no?



Fuck em all.. I'll take the kids to some AHL games for 1/10 the price. Hell.. the Rockford IceHogs (little west of me) are now consisting mostly of the younger members of the Blackhawks roster now... haha I'll wait til they play the Chicago Wolves (Vancouver affiliate) and see them then

The kick in the face to the fans....at least in Toronto is that the leafs still,want your money if your a season ticket holder so you can keep the seats. What a joke.

I don't know who I hate more in this the players or the owners and Gny is right, its the regular Joes that get hurt the most when your livelihood relys on there being a season. As far as the Leafs go, I've been a Red Wings fan for quite some time now as quite frankly going to the Joe in Detroit is imo a much better experience plus they stand a better chance of actually winning a game. (Sorry Leafs fans) It also doesn't hurt that I do some business in windsor so its nothing to jump across the border for a game or two. Also, over the last few years I've been taking in more OHL games as the calibre of hockey is excellent and its not as hard on the wallet. I'm fed up with the whole thing!

Yes, it's a bunch of cry babies that are can't figure out how to split the pie. This time (same as the last time) it's the owners locking out the players, meaning they refuse to pay them to renegotiate to CBA. If it were up to the players, there would be a season. So really, if there is anyone to blame, it's the owners.

As for the massive contracts, if you are an employee, don't you want the best deal for yourself? I don't think any of us would say, "Yeah, pay me less than what I'm worth so you can bring in more/better people." Rather, we're all jockeying for pay raises and higher salaries. So I can understand the players chasing the $. They'll go for the best deal and the owners are too stupid to stop giving out the ludicrous contracts (see Wade Redden).

The 57% player take is the most in sports, and it has to come down. The owners wanted to go to 43% and reduce salaries some 24% too. Can you imagine your boss saying that to you? And in case you were wonder, how does the 50/50 split work?

Quote :

The league will only ever pay the players 50 percent of this Hockey Related Revenue, regardless of how much the owners contract to pay each individual player. Because revenues and player contracts are not completely known until the end of the year accounting, players have a portion of their paychecks (about 10%) withheld throughout the year to cover any potential shortfall. This is called "escrow".

http://philly.sbnation.com/2012/10/17/3513460/salary-caps-labor-strife-and-alternatives

In my mind, this is all on the owners. A whole season was lost to get them the deal they want, which they got. Then they come around and lock them out again because they didn't like the deal they engineered in the first place. It's not the players faults that the sign the contracts they sign. The contracts are offered by the teams, so they ultimately control their own player expenses.

Really the only people that suffer are the fans. The the owners assume (most likely correctly too) that they will just come back when it's all over, like last time. And we probably will.

with living so close to Toronto , i find it a pain in the ass there is no hockey.....dont really understand the lockout , nor do i want to...... i just wanna watch some hockey FFS

Donald Fehr ugh (Be it baseball or hockey it seems whenever he is involved there is a lockout)

We were like the biggest winners in FA this year. I was and still am excited to see Parise and Suter. We finally have 2 beast lines and a dominant D man.

Looks our #1 in the nation Gopher hockey is going to be where its at this year.

I agree that it is definitely the fans who get screwed in this. I've been a Hawks fan for over 20 years and it has been great to see people getting back into hockey here in Chicago however this strike could seriously screw this up.

Hockey unlike the NFL and such may have a harder time recovering the fan interest especially in the states. Here in Chicago there has been ZERO talk about the strike or season on any of the sports talk radio stations and this after the Blackhawks finally started refilling the seats prior to and after the cup with new fans sparked by all the great talent and new ownership.

Smaller market cities such as Phoenix, Carolina, & Minnesota will probably have an even harder time trying to fill the seats up after missing part of a season or more. This may have an effect similar to what baseball went through. On the bright side hopefully with all this down time Hossa might actually be healthy enough to make it through an entire season without an injury if and when they start up again!

MajorBedhead067 wrote:

Hockey unlike the NFL and such may have a harder time recovering the fan interest especially in the states. Here in Chicago there has been ZERO talk about the strike or season on any of the sports talk radio stations and this after the Blackhawks finally started refilling the seats prior to and after the cup with new fans sparked by all the great talent and new ownership.

Smaller market cities such as Phoenix, Carolina, & Minnesota will probably have an even harder time trying to fill the seats up after missing part of a season or more. This may have an effect similar to what baseball went through. On the bright side hopefully with all this down time Hossa might actually be healthy enough to make it through an entire season without an injury if and when they start up again!

I wouldn't worry about Chicago. As long as you have Toes and Kane you will be fine. MN will be fine. There is so much college and H.S. hockey here. Hockey is to Minnesota as Football is to like Texas or Alabama.