DOH 211 – Preseason Canceled
September 30th, 2012, 10:13 pm
It’s looking like it’s gonna be a while until the NHL comes back, but the Dudes are still here, and organizing outing to Bulls games. If you want to go and haven’t emailed yet, you better hurry. Deadline is very soon!
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Gary Bettman has been in the hot seat for 4 work stoppages. This is his 3rd. lockout and before the lockouts was a very short players strike. You guys hit the Krys Barch thing right on the head though. I generally sympathize with the players in this dispute I think that if the owners wanted a good deal they could have it, unfortunately they want an amazing deal and here we sit. That said I don’t want to hear about how hard it is to feed three kids on 750K a year. Yes does it suck that some players who make millions can now go and take a job in Europe and in some cases make less millions but millions none the less overseas absolutely but how is that very different than any where else in life.
If any of us who are not self employed had their business close down shop tomorrow and suddenly all those people are looking for work there is a good chance that the best people especially if they are willing to relocate are going to land on their feet and relatively quickly and those who are not so great at their job (Krys Barch) are going to sit on the outside looking in, so its not like hockey players are in some special bubble they are just compensated better than the rest of us, and because its a billion dollar business I have no problem with them taking their fair share. Just don’t cry on the internet because its too hard paying the bills when you make a huge percentage more than the average joe who gets gouged to watch you play.
I was wrong, players strike was Pre-Bettman.
I never was one to care that it’s millionaire’s vs. billionaires. It doesn’t matter to me that the players make (a lot) more money than I do, because by that logic I should just shut up and take it if my boss decided to cut my pay by 20% because an immigrant picking strawberries works way harder for a lot less money than I do. It isn’t about how much money either of them makes, it’s about the bullshit that a company who’s revenue has grown 50% over the past 6 years has decided that it wants to cut contracted wages of it’s employees.
Those workers generate the business, they’re entitled to the share that the business negotiated with them. Especially in the instance where the business has grown faster in the last 6 years, through the biggest economic meltdown since the great depression, than probably at any other 6 year span in it’s history.
The fact that the owners are locking out players and anybody remotely thinks the players are somehow to blame or should cave into demands so we can have hockey again is beyond me.
Perfectly put.
I agree. Like I said I sympathize with the players the only thing I take exception too is rants about how hard it is to feed a family with a meager 750K.
The lock out could be over tomorrow if the Owners were not so hell bent on completely decimating the Union again. The worst part is if the owners get their deal we will be back here again as soon as this CBA expires because its not going to address the actual problems and that is the most frustrating part of all.
I’d go even farther to say that the owners created this whole situation themselves by allowing their GM’s to give said employees ridiculous salaries that cannot be justified in either a cap system or in many cases by the players’ performances.
I can’t find the actual tweet – but I read one right after the lockout that said something to the effect of: “owners lockout players and refuse to operate under current CBA they cancelled an entire season to get”…
It’s even scarier to think that the league could be planning to cancel this entire season again just to break the union – again. I heard on the Marek v. Wysh podcast Friday, a guest author who wrote a book on Bettman, say that Gary Bettman prepared with weekly meetings for FOUR YEARS for the 04-05 lockout. Excuse my language, but these guys don’t give two fucks about the players or the fans and will have no qualms about doing whatever they see is necessary to get what they want – even if they created the situation themselves.
I’m commenting before listening to the podcst… fyi..
But, I for one have decided that if the NHL has an extended lockout – like perhaps January 1 or so – or at the least doesn’t have an agreement in place, I’ll probably not partake of the NHL as a fan for a while. Under no circumstances can I find this many lockouts acceptable. And I dont think anything will affect the owners and league until fans stop paying for and watching their product. I have to stand by my principles at some point. I stopped watching baseball for several years in 94 and I’ve given this league many opportunities to stop treating fans like shit.
At the end of the day I love the Sharks but we don’t deserve this bull shit. Until fans figure this out and actually the league and owners where it counts it wont stop. A lockout or stike every 5-10 years will become the norm.
I’m with Tom. As much as I love this sport, I’m nobody’s bitch. I’ll decide where my money is spent and if this keeps up, they aren’t getting any of it for a long time. No games, no merchandise, no Center Ice. Even boycotting the NHL altogether for a year or two isn’t out of the question because I’m stubborn as hell. These greedy assholes think that because we love the sport so much that we’ll put up with anything and we’ll come back with fists full of dollars to give them. Fuck THAT.
Unfortunately, I think that the players will cave, the owners will get their way, the fans will come back and we’ll be back in this situation in 6-8 years.
If they put that “Thank You Fans” message inside the blue line again if/when play is resumed, someone really needs to piss all over it.
What a mess… As a whole the teams are friggin making money, not losing it!
The first thing that frames the whole discussion is the model the NHL is following.
– Is it following a model where there is an even playing field and big money teams can’t dominate (i.e. NFL) or is it following a model where big money can (i,e, MLB, EPL)?
– Is it operating in a missionary format where it is spreading the gospel in new markets that will take time to build so need help in the short term or is it operating in a mature marketplace where teams can operate equally in competition?
If it is the former to both of these, then go ahead – don’t have revenue sharing, keep the money for yourself, if if teams are losing money it’s becasue they are badly run.
If it is the latter, then in order to make the model work, teams have to share revenue & help the lower income, smaller marker, newer market teams ice competitive teams.
It’s clear the NHL has set it’s stall out that it is the latter for both, so by definition the current model with virtually no revenue sharing won’t work. It’s not complicated.
Mr Bettman needs to grow a pair and stand up to the handful of big money teams that are making big money and tell them to share it around.Unfortunately, he knows who pays his wages, so he is looking after number 1 rather than the sport as a whole.
The problem is Mr. Bettman’s job description is only peripherally to grow/improve the game. If it happens, great, but it’s only to service the larger goal- to make the owners more money. If he alienates himself from Ed Snider, Jeremy Jacobs, and the Molsons, he’ll be cleaning out his desk in a matter of minutes.
Dudes,
another question/issue… I don’t know the answer to this question and tried to find it myself and was unable. Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski cleary said on their podcast Friday that the NHL will NOT tow NHL contracts in the event of a season long stoppage – of course meaning that all contracts would be shortened by one year.
You guys seemed to be of the belief that the league WOULD IN FACT tow NHL contracts.
So for example, if we lost the season we’d still have Handzus for another year… if the league did in fact tow all contracts…
Thoughts where to find the answer?
Just a quick heads-up; looks like the Bulls got goalie Taylor Nelson from Worcester, not to mention forwards Taylor Carnevale and Alex Tuckerman.
http://www.sharksahl.com/story.asp?story_id=3235
I’m fairly certain “The Dudes” would be taking pot-shots at The Bulls — were the NHL not in a lockout.
For example: Can you believe how UGLY the Bulls’ logo (& uniforms) are??!! YIKES.
I dunno, we don’t have a big history of slagging minor league teams. And I might be in the minority, but I like the Bulls colors and uniform.
I wish people would focus less on Bettman and more on the owners who are driving this thing. Bettman is just a mouthpiece. He’s Slappy to their Joe Thornton. He’s a meat shield, who gets paid so well partially because it’s his job to be the public villain so Ed Snider and Jeremy Jacobs can stay in the shadows.
A few uber-rich douches are hijacking the league, and while some other owners are surely on board, others are just too scared of the consequences to do anything.
I’m with Tom and WingFan. Even if the players caved tomorrow, there’s absolutely no reason to think we won’t be dealing with this again at the end of the next CBA. Until there’s some sign of the NHL breaking this pattern of extortion, no jerseys, no tickets, and no Center Ice from me.