2004-09-16 - 10:13 a.m.

Locked Out

I was getting kind of long winded with my first entry today so I decided to seperate my thoughts today. If you don't give a whiff about sports then if you haven't already done so go read my First Entry today which isn't sports related.

Ok, For those of you who are into sports, particularly HOCKEY, Here we go.

I mentioned to The Juddster [That's TWO, Count 'em TWO damn SHOUTOUTS to you, in consecutive entries. And all you do is list me down the sidebar. Cheapskate!] in his comments section that I hadn't written about the NHL Lockout. Being that I'm Canadian and Hockey is pretty much a religous cult up here,Even IF our National Sport is Lacrosse, it would be remiss if I didn't comment about what looks like the doom of the 2004-05 NHL Season.

If you watch hockey and didn't see this coming, you're blind. About an 1/8th of the league is losing dollars like a hemopheliac with a knife wound. The majority of the league is treading water financially. With an elite few making money.

The easy target here is player's salaries. Hell, in any business, the biggest overhead you have is salaries. This shouldn't be any shock to anyone who's ever been involved in running a business.

Supposedly, the mass majority of NHL owner's are successful businessmen (or women, just incase there's a female owner out there somewhere) in other businesses which makes you wonder when it comes to running an NHL franchise why they become business stupid.

In case they hadn't checked the calander lately, I can most definitely point out we aren't in the 70's. I can further point out that if they think they can just bully the players, into hacking their own salaries and or their jobs, this isn't the 1980's either.

If you sit in the camp that says that the player's are overpaid and that's the problem, well, I have two comments for you.

A] Wow, Really?! You're a Genius. [Note the dripping sarcasm]

B] You're just jealous.

Yes, the fact the majority of players are grossly overpaid for what they do isn't really rocket science. Then again, nobody put a gun to the owner's (or general manager's) head and said you gotta pay this much money. This is where the problem TRULY is. What the owner's want is a contract that stops THEMSELVES from paying the player's too much without being accused of collusion. For the owner's to accuse the players of being greedy is like blaming the fat kid who eats all the cookies in the jar because Grandma said "Help yourself".

If you can't control yourself why in God's name would you expect someone else to control yourself for you. That is completely and utterly unrealistic.

Personally, the fiscal responsiblity of the league shouldn't even be a discussion between the owners and players. That task lies solely on the shoulders of the league itself. I can't think of one employee out there who would NOT accept more money for the job they do. If you wouldn't take more, you have no respect for your own self worth.

Personally, I think it comes down to the Owner's setting their own salary cap for their team (and sticking to it). You set out a cap for your own team and if your general manager goes over that cap you fire his ass.

Maybe this means small market teams can't compete with the larger markets. Maybe the league shouldn't ignore this fact and should embrace it. Split the league up into small markets/large market. The take the top 4 teams from each league and do a playoff. Will the large market teams win the cup year after year? Probably. But 4 small market teams will enjoy at least one round in the playoffs every year and occasionally do better. Small market teams have already proven they can compete without spending wildly (i.e. Edmonton, Vancouver, Nashville and others).

Another, is to negotiate heavily personal performance laden contracts with the players. You know how much you'll make if you're team is successful so make the contract "pay as you go". Score a bunch of fucking goals, more money. Team make so many wins in a season, more fuckin money.

In reality, those types of contracts could be league wide and then everyone has a base salary. The truly talented guys are gonna make more money and the slack ass losers (that most fan yell "Get off the fuckin' ice [Insert Floaters Name]" won't make as much.

It's really a matter of creative problem solving.

You have to remember the Owners are the same people who turned down the idea, amongst themselves, of revenue sharing. Proving without a doubt, They're just as, if not more, greedy as the players. The teams that make money have no intention of helping the teams that don't. You see that going on from the other side of the fence (the players) and why would you want to help (make concessions for) them?! They can't or won't even help themselves.

Of course, If you're an NHL player and you're enjoying gross overpayment considering your team's or the league's revenue then you shouldn't be entirely shocked when the league goes belly up.

In Conclusion, I think the players are right to fight a salary cap in the contract. I think anyone in their position would do the same. As long as they realize that such a stance could mean the end of the league as we know it.

The Owners need to not only admit responsibility (which they do from time to time) for the shitty state of affairs but to take OWNERSHIP of it and do something about it without taking the easy cop-out of blaming the players for accepting buttloads of cash.

|

|

previous - next

The Last Five Bingo Games

Ripples - 2011-02-01
Checkmate - 2010-11-11
I Need Anger - 2010-10-15
I'd Like To Point Something Out - 2010-09-10
A Tempting Morsal - 2010-08-20

What rating is your journal?