Since my last post on the NHL lockout, the NHLPA & the owners got together in NYC for several days of ACTUAL negotiations. The interesting thing was that the meetings were held in a "secret location." Why it needed to be secret is beyond me because NO ONE seems to care. To further show that NO ONE cares, reporters could've easily staked out Bettman's office and followed him and no one saw that Donald Fehr or Sidney Crosby were on town in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy? People saw them I'm sure but they just didn't care (granted the hurricane caused major problems in that area but even without those problems no one cared. I just want to say that I hope the people affected by Sandy can rebuild after the tragedy).
So the owners & the players decided on a new tactic after doing nothing in October; sit down across from each other and hammer out their differences. As of now there will be no hockey until after the New Year. There seems to be an agreement on a 50/50 split on the over $3 billion in revenue but the sticking point is the "make whole" aspect. The players want the existing contracts to be honored (seems fair to me). The owners seemed ok with that but a a memo from Donald Fehr to the players may not have included that aspect according to a an article in Yahoo Sports by Harrison Mooney. The owners are accusing Fehr of not having the best interests of the players and that he does not care about hockey. Which I find intriguing because he gets paid regardless. Settlement or no settlement he still collects his paycheck and can walk away (I don't know that this is true but Fehr's the only person to be involved in work stoppages in 2 sports. That's what he does!). Owners saying that a director of a players association not having the players best interest at heart is nothing new, especially to Fehr, but if there's anything coming from the players about Fehr it's not being talked about.
After Thursday's negotiations there was some hope about a settlement but when the dust settled on Friday...nothing. Now things could get ugly.
My personal feeling is that both sides have an overstated sense of value of their product in today's culture. It's clear that outside of Canada, no one is really too worried about the fact that there's no hockey. There's nearly 4 more months of the NFL if you count the playoffs and Superbowl so American sports fans are fine. Just when hockey was starting to gain some momentum over the last 5 years, they decide to throw it all away. More proof that both sides have little interest in "growing the game" as they do in the NBA, NFL and the MLB to a lesser degree.
Let's see what happens now. Quite frankly I have doubts about salvaging a season. Stay tuned.
So the owners & the players decided on a new tactic after doing nothing in October; sit down across from each other and hammer out their differences. As of now there will be no hockey until after the New Year. There seems to be an agreement on a 50/50 split on the over $3 billion in revenue but the sticking point is the "make whole" aspect. The players want the existing contracts to be honored (seems fair to me). The owners seemed ok with that but a a memo from Donald Fehr to the players may not have included that aspect according to a an article in Yahoo Sports by Harrison Mooney. The owners are accusing Fehr of not having the best interests of the players and that he does not care about hockey. Which I find intriguing because he gets paid regardless. Settlement or no settlement he still collects his paycheck and can walk away (I don't know that this is true but Fehr's the only person to be involved in work stoppages in 2 sports. That's what he does!). Owners saying that a director of a players association not having the players best interest at heart is nothing new, especially to Fehr, but if there's anything coming from the players about Fehr it's not being talked about.
After Thursday's negotiations there was some hope about a settlement but when the dust settled on Friday...nothing. Now things could get ugly.
My personal feeling is that both sides have an overstated sense of value of their product in today's culture. It's clear that outside of Canada, no one is really too worried about the fact that there's no hockey. There's nearly 4 more months of the NFL if you count the playoffs and Superbowl so American sports fans are fine. Just when hockey was starting to gain some momentum over the last 5 years, they decide to throw it all away. More proof that both sides have little interest in "growing the game" as they do in the NBA, NFL and the MLB to a lesser degree.
Let's see what happens now. Quite frankly I have doubts about salvaging a season. Stay tuned.
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