The Lockout Thread (R)

what bentmann has done well:

1: dallas, denver, san jose, tampa, atlanta,anaheim, minnesota,tampa.
2: the value of franchises has gone way way up. these guys claim to be losing money, but they could always sell their teams.

what bentamnn has done poorly:

1:columbus, nashville, miami, carolina. none of these teams should exist.

as for the sport not getting ratings on american tv, that was a pre-existing condition. he tried to make the game more popular in america. it is not going to work. it is a regional, niche sport. i like to watch the rangers and other northeast teams. i could not care less about the nashville predators.

 

The NHL needs to contract. I'm not sure how this could be done though.

 

Columbus should have a team, they have done well in supporting their team, and unlike some other teams, they are in a state that has winter.

 

My condolences, Hockey Fans. It appears the end is here:

Link
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=114925

It's expected the National Hockey League will put out an advisory later today (Monday) that it is calling a news conference for tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) in New York, at which time NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to officially cancel the 2004-05 regular season and playoffs.

Individual NHL clubs are said to be planning their own local news conferences immediately following Bettman's announcement.

 

Idiots all. They've all ruined a great game.

 

I suggest to all hockey fans that you do what I have been doing this year, support the AHL. Let the PA and Owners know that there are options out there if they are too stupid to see that they are killing the NHL.

 

Absolutely true. And I passionately cheer for my college's team (#12-ranked Colgate). That said, probably 98% of hockey fans only care about THEIR LOCAL TEAM, whether it's the AHL or NHL. Otherwise, playoff TV ratings would be considerably better than they have been. The numbers for baseball and football don't lie on this count.

 

Anybody happen to catch ESPN SportsCenter's plan to "fix" hockey?

I'm not surprised they recommended the shootout, but it doesn't piss me off any less.

Thing is, most of their other proposals I could get behind: shortening the season to 70 games (although this means an even lower salary cap given how the NHL is far more dependent on gate receipts than the other "major" sports here), cracking down on obstruction, cracking down on the size of goalie equipment.

But the shootout? Why not just play rock-paper-scissors?

 

Maybe while the sportscenter guys are at it for basketball, instead of overtime, they can have a slam dunk contest, oh wait, that would be the previous 4 qtrs.

Baseball, no extra innings, just have the home run hitting contest

 

i have been watching tapes of the 72 russia-canada series. i saw game 3 from winnipeg the other night, ended 4-4. tremendous hockey, the best i have ever seen.

 

Zero Hour:

Press conference set for 1pm Wednesday in New York

www.nhl.com

 

Tell that to Disney. They've been trying to sell the Ducks for four years.

 

Game Off??? Not quite yet. NHLPA has agreed to a cap. NHL wants it at $40M and players at $52M.

Can they just meet in between? Better than losing the entire season. I guess we'll find out soon.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1991361

 

So, here's what happened today:

- Bettman sends a letter to Goodenow, with the NHL's final offer ("This offer is NOT an invitation to open negotiations--it's too late for that"); NHL ups their cap from $40 to $42.5 million. (http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=115051) The letter sets an 11am Wednesday deadline for the union to accept the deal.

- 4 hours later, Goodenow sends a letter to Bettman, with the union's final proposal. The PA drops their cap from $52 to $49 million. (http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=115069)

- Shortly after that, Bettman rejects the union offer, claiming that if every team was at the $49 million cap (which would be a small miracle, since the salary floor would be $25 million, and there were teams below THAT last year), the league would wind up paying more in salary as a percentage of revenue than they were last season. (http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=115048)

It looks like the magic number is $45 million. Hopefully they get there, but it's going to be very much last minute.

 

It took f****ing long enough for the the NHLPA to face the fact that a salarycap is inevitable. Too bad that they didn't get the news out to the membership before they put it on the table.

 

Sounds like a game of chicken on the highway. I predict a smash up and much damage on the road. When the NHL said "final offer" in that letter (and then made it public), they backed themselves into a corner.

 

Geez, like we did not see this coming. These owners and players know that fans are such suckers.