Canadian television networks stand to lose broadcasts that attract millions of viewers and generate millions of dollars in advertising revenue if the NHL lockout extends into the regular season.
CBC president Hubert Lacroix acknowledged this week that a delayed or canceled season would be "a cash flow challenge for us."
While Lacroix said CBC has "replacement programming", it's still not fully clear how networks will fill the void created by a lockout.
"In Canada, if you want to start a conversation, you either talk about hockey or the weather -- and now we're reduced to the weather," said Jim Hughson, the play-by-play announcer for "Hockey Night in Canada." "There isn't any hockey at the National Hockey League level to talk about, and I just don't think that the networks have found adequate replacements for that."
This is the NHL's fourth work stoppage in 20 years. Preseason games for September already have been called off. The regular season is scheduled to begin Oct. 11.
In previous shutdowns, the networks aired more major junior and American Hockey League games. But Hughson said the ratings and revenues do not justify the production costs, which are about on par with NHL telecasts.
Read More: NHL lockout could hit Canadian TV networks hard | Detroit Red Wings | Detroit Free Press | freep-com
Montreal's Brian Gionta, Andre Markov and Josh Gorges, and Los Angeles' Simon Gagne and Jonathan Bernier were among 20 NHL players who took part in the first game of the Tournee des Joueurs Thursday night at the Complex Multisports de Chateauguay.
Maxime Talbot and Jason Pominville each scored twice to lead the red "Montreal" squad to a 7-4 victory over the white "Quebec" team. First-come, first-served tickets sold at the door for $20 drew a standing-room-only crowd of 1,250 to the multi-rink arena.
Talbot and Bruno Gervais, both of the Philadelphia Flyers, organized the tour that will feature games next week in Saint-Hyacinthe and Sherbrooke.
"We could go in any rink, close the door and have these two rosters and just play between us and compete and try to get ready for next season," Talbot said. "But at the same time we decided we might as well give a show to the fans and get money for charity.
"So the fans are really something that is important for us, to give them a little hockey while they can't get NHL hockey and hopefully they'll enjoy what we're putting on the ice."
Chicago goalie Corey Crawford, from Chateauguay, got the win behind a lineup that also included Gionta, Markov, Gorges, Gervais, Alexandre Burrows, Guillaume Latendresse, Colby Armstrong, Mathieu Darche, Derick Brassard and Steve Begin.
Read More: Locked-out NHL players play exhibition game | GoUpstate-com
The last National Hockey League lockout — which wiped out the entire 2004-05 season — started after the players turned down an offer from the owners of a $42.5-million salary cap.
At the time, former Canadiens forward Pierre Dagenais told La Presse: “I’d be curious to see it if they took a poll of the players on a salary cap. They may be surprised to see how many players in my situation would vote in favour of a cap. Guys have started to talk in the last three weeks. It could open Bob Goodenow’s eyes.”
The NHLPA quickly convinced Dagenais to change his tune — at least publicly.
When the players returned to work a year later, the cap was set at $39 million, plus a 24-per-cent rollback on existing contracts as well as escrow payments. Dagenais — who lost a year’s salary — played only 32 games with the Canadiens in the 2005-06 season and his NHL career was over after 142 total games.
The current lockout started after the owners made an offer dropping the players’ share of revenue to 49 per cent from 57 per cent and proposed that it drop to 47 per cent by the end of a six-year deal.
When hockey eventually returns, it will be interesting to see if the players come back again for something less than what was on the table when the lockout started. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case — especially with pit-bull Gary Bettman running the show and the owners already proving their solidarity the last time.
The NHL and the players' association met for a third straight day Sunday, and again avoided the troublesome money issues that are fueling the lockout.
Because of difficulty in finding common ground on how to split up that money, the league and union instead concentrated all weekend on secondary issues that will be included in any agreement.
"I hate to sound like a broken record, but we need some movement on the economic issues. We need some movement on the system issues," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.
There was a thought that talks might continue Monday, but that doesn't seem likely as the NHL wants to meet internally with its clubs before getting back together with the players' association.
Read more: NHL, players meet for 3rd straight day - SFGate
The Great One is optimistic about the NHL’s labour situation.
Wayne Gretzky said Monday that he believes the league’s lockout will end before the showcase Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.
“I believe in my heart, maybe because I’m such a big hockey fan, that they will be playing by Jan. 1,” said Gretzky during a question and answer period at a panel discussion on personal finance. “I think the hard part of their deal was the last negotiations (in 2004) of players agreeing to a salary cap.
“Now that there is a salary cap in place, and revenue sharing, I see them ultimately getting a deal done here and I see them playing hockey this year.”
Detroit and Toronto are scheduled to play outdoors at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor to kick off the new year.
Gretzky was reluctant to analyze the labour negotiations because he’s not directly involved in them.
“The only thing I will say is the commissioner’s office and Donald Fehr and the players’ association are very smart men, they’re both very intelligent ...” Gretzky said. “It’s a matter of sitting down and getting the deal done.”
The Hall of Fame centre and former part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes believes that the gap between the league and its players is smaller than in 2004, when the NHL lost an entire season.
Read more: NHL lockout: Wayne Gretzky optimistic for deal before Jan. 1
The rehetoric is rising, while the time before the planned start of the NHL regular season is running out.
And now it seems more likely than not that regular-season games will be canceled before the league and the players' association even get back to the negotiating table.
The sides broke off talks Tuesday after just two hours, and it was hard to find optimism anywhere that the season would avoid a major disruption — just seven years after a full season was lost to a lockout.
"Not prepared to speculate on next steps at this point," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email on Wednesday. "Obviously, we've been saying for over a month now that we would welcome a new proposal from the Players' Association. That continues to be our position.
"(It's) not a constructive position to say, 'Here's our first offer. We think it's really good. Call us back when you are ready to accept it.' That's what the union has effectively done here."
Daly also said on Wednesday that the NHL has no timetable when it will start calling off regular-season games.
Read More: NHL: We're still waiting for new union proposal
Stop if you've heard this one before: the NHL is losing games because of a lockout.
The first cut was two weeks of games, and judging by the sniping between the league and its players, no end is in sight.
In a widely anticipated move, the NHL announced Thursday that 82 games between opening night next week and Oct. 24 have been canceled because of the ongoing fight with the players' association that had already forced the league to eliminate the preseason schedule.
It was just seven years ago that the NHL absorbed its biggest blemish by canceling the entire 2004-05 season in its ultimately successful bid to gain a salary cap. Now the league is fighting to gain even more financial control of the sport.
Read more: NHL lockout wipes out opening 2 weeks of season - seattlepi-com
Here in Canada, the home of hockey and all things winter, most of us come to understand early in life not to spin your tires when you’re stuck in the snow. The more you spin, the worse it gets.
The NHL seems to get this. The NHLPA is still learning.
Although the NHL lockout will keep the Kings and Ducks off the ice at least through Oct. 24 there are still a number of hockey alternatives in Southern California.
From the Ontario Reign — the Kings' ECHL affiliate — through college, high school, junior and youth leagues, teams are hoping to grab some of the spotlight usually dominated by the NHL teams.
"We're definitely not taking advantage of anybody's misfortune," said Justin Kemp, president of the Reign. "But we are going to at least take advantage of the opportunity to promote ourselves and hopefully keep hockey in the front of people's minds in a positive way while the lockout is being resolved."
The Reign next weekend will open its fifth season in the double-A caliber ECHL. The league's quality of play has risen the past few years and could improve again due to a trickle-down effect: NHL teams sent their top eligible young players to the American Hockey League to stay active during the lockout, probably producing an overflow of kids ticketed for the ECHL.
The league's focus is developmental, but Kemp said some older NHL players have shown interest in signing during the lockout. "The tricky thing is they all have to take insurance policies out on their contracts, and that's not cheap," he said. "In essence, they're almost paying for the opportunity to play here, so it's not for everybody."
Kemp said the team continues to advertise locally, has gotten some games on radio and is hoping to have a game or two televised. Ticket prices range from $10 for walkup to $50 at the glass, and mini-plans will include parking. .
Read More: ON THE NHL: These local teams aren't locked out - latimes-com
With zero ego — zero pretense — Steve McCarthy reported to Abbotsford Heat training camp as just one of 45 players vying for a job.
Steve McCarthy. The name might have sound vaguely familiar to some of his new colleagues, but no one seemed to recognize the one-time Chicago Blackhawk, Vancouver Canuck and Atlanta Thrasher.
No one pegged him as a former first-round draft pick. No one figured he had 312 NHL games on his resume. And no one picked up on the presence of a Canadian legend from the 2000 World Junior Hockey Championships in Sweden.
“Have you ever seen the movie Brubaker?” asked Heat head coach Troy Ward. “Robert Redford comes in as an inmate, but he’s really the next warden of the prison. But in order to figure out what’s wrong in the prison society, he goes in as an inmate first. They all thought he was an inmate.”
We’re not sure if McCarthy will appreciate the metaphor, but . . .
“That’s Steve McCarthy,” Ward said. “He came in here very unassuming, just came in to do his thing. Nobody knew he was a player from before or where he was drafted. The young kids here today, they don’t know.
“They just thought Steve was one of the boys trying out.”
In this case, the “boy” tried out and made the team. He officially putting pen to paper over the weekend on an AHL contract at the wise old age of 31.
The National Hockey
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League's labor dispute has provided an unexpected windfall for
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Three NHL players, currently barred from their usual ice
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All four NHL players who joined the Aces during the lockout
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Read More: NHL-Locked out players head to Alaska - chicagotribune-com
A high-profile abuse victim of former hockey coach Graham James says he wishes Canada would follow the U.S. in handing out harsh sentences to sexual predators, but doesn't think there is the political will.
Theo Fleury was reacting Tuesday to the sentence handed down to former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The 68-year-old Sandusky was given at least 30 years in jail after being found guilty in June of 45 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 boys over a 15-year period.
"The good part is he's going away for the rest of his life, but I wish they would have given him the full 400 years because that would have sent a real strong message to the world that we're not going to look at this lightly any more," said Fleury, who was molested by James during his junior hockey career.
Fleury said it is time for the Canadian government to step up and take a hard line in dealing with sexual predators.
"I would say basically what we're all thinking is we need to sit down and take this seriously. We look to the government for leadership but there's no leadership around us whatsoever. We'd rather bury our heads in the sand like we have for thousands of years."
In the late 1990s, James served about 18 months of a 3 1/2 year-sentence for molesting former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy and two other players.
He got out of jail in 2000 and dropped out of public view until Fleury came forward recently with allegations against the former coach.
James was sentenced to a further two years in prison last March for sexually assaulting Fleury and Fleury's cousin, Todd Holt, when they played for him in the Western Hockey League in the 1980s and '90s.
Under that sentence, James can apply for parole and be released by the end of the year. That prompted widespread outrage from both James's victims and the public.
Fleury said he has raised the issue of stronger sentences for pedophiles with federal politicians, but received little satisfaction from their responses. He wants to make it an issue in the next federal election campaign.
"One of the things on my agenda is to make the next election all about which party is willing to take leadership around the laws in our country. We need stiffer sentences. We need to build bigger prisons," he said.
Kennedy agrees the sentences should better reflect the "invisible" damage done by child abuse, but he thinks Canada is on that right track.
"I think that we had our Penn State, if you may, (with) the Graham James case 14 years ago. When I look at this I think we are on the right track in Canada," said Kennedy, who received a Diamond Jubilee medal from Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Calgary on Tuesday.
"I think that putting someone away for life is not the only answer, although it's a feel-good. For us, our best defence is prevention to educate the masses and empower the bystanders."
Kennedy has become an outspoken champion for the rights of sexual abuse victims since coming forward about James did to him.
"I think if we look at the Graham James case and we look at the Penn State case and many others, there was a lot of people who had a gut feeling something was wrong and didn't have the confidence to do anything about it," he said.
James used his position as coach to abuse his victims, who all had dreams of making it big in the hockey world.
During sentencing arguments on the most recent charges, court heard that James would single out his young victims and keep them close to him. He often separated them from their families by convincing their parents the teens needed tutoring and had to spend nights at his apartment. The assaults began as fondling or groping, but escalated as the boys became exhausted from fighting off his advances.
Eight of the boys Sandusky was found guilty of molesting testified at his trial, describing a range of abuse that included fondling, oral sex and anal intercourse. One of the prosecution's star witnesses, former graduate assistant Mike McQueary, testified that he saw Sandusky raping a boy in a locker-room shower.
Witnesses said Sandusky used the charitable organization he founded for troubled children as his personal hunting ground to find and groom boys to become his victims.
Sandusky has consistently maintained his innocence and plans to appeal.
Read more: Former NHL star wants Canada to follow American lead on sentencing pedophiles
Last season, the N.H.L. generated $3.3 billion, the seventh straight season of record revenue. But on Wednesday, the day before what would have been the opening night for a new season with continued bright prospects for growth, teams stood idle. Players remained locked out by the owners and Commissioner Gary Bettman, and instead of the flash and clangor of hockey in boisterous rinks across North America, the only thing to anticipate was the dull spectacle of a negotiating session in Midtown Manhattan.
League and union negotiators met in two sessions Wednesday, their first official bargaining since Friday, but they remained focused on secondary issues like player safety rather than how to divide league earnings. Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner, estimated the N.H.L. had lost as much as $250 million in revenue because of the cancellation of the preseason and the first two weeks of the regular season. “We felt that over the last seven years we’ve built up a lot of momentum in the business, we’ve had a lot of growth,” Daly said. “Who knows what a work stoppage like this will do to that momentum?”
Daly was talking about what he saw as the union’s reluctance to accept a settlement, but he could just as easily have been describing the calculation league management was making in calling the lockout.
Bettman and the owners have twice before chosen to lock out the players after weighing the pluses of gaining a more advantageous labor deal against the minuses of angering fans and derailing momentum. For them, the lure of clawing back hundreds of millions of dollars from the players made it worth the risk.
Part of that strategy was the owners’ belief that the N.H.L. could bounce back from lockouts with increased attendance and improved television ratings.
“We recovered last time because we have the world’s greatest fans,” Bettman said in August.
NHL arenas are dark, and now so are its negotiating rooms.
Hockey’s opening day came and went Thursday with no games and no reason to think players will be hitting the ice anytime soon.
The league and the union were back at the bargaining table, hours before pucks were supposed to drop to open the regular season, but once again the sides didn’t address the core economic differences at the center of the league’s lockout that has already lasted 26 days.
After discussing secondary topics for a second straight day, no plans were made to meet again. Forget about Friday, the likelihood of any hockey being played in October is quickly fading.
‘‘Until we’re really tackling the major issues, I’m not sure there is a real-time urgency on these other issues,’’ NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. ‘‘Let’s take the time, let’s redo proposals on the basis of the two days of discussion. When we have that done, and it makes sense to meet, I am sure we’ll meet.
‘‘We didn’t leave today’s meeting saying, ‘This is ridiculous. There is no reason to continue meeting on any level.’ None of our discussions have led to that result, and I don’t expect them to at any time in the near future.’’
After five hours of talks at the league office on Wednesday, the sides got back together for nearly as long — in two separate sessions — on Thursday. Union head Donald Fehr stayed away, and wasn’t in contact with commissioner Gary Bettman.
Although it has been a week since the NHL called off the first two weeks of the regular season, that sting was felt full force Thursday when opening day passed without any games played.
‘‘We’re creatures of habit,’’ sad Vancouver Canucks forward Manny Malhotra, a member of the union’s negotiating team. ‘‘We’re used to doing things at certain times, and right now would be time to be playing again.
‘‘The frustration sets in. Guys want to be doing what we love to do. It’s been that way since we missed the first day of camp.’’
Progress was made Thursday on a drug testing plan, and the sides also dealt with contract issues such as term length and player assignments that still need to be worked on. Other miscellaneous legal issues were also discussed.
‘‘There are still a few things to work out,’’ NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr said. ‘‘That is not the core issue, obviously. If we had everything else settled, we could go back to work and solve the remaining issues in six hours if we had to.’’
Last week, the NHL canceled 82 games from Thursday through Oct. 24.
Daly estimated the NHL lost $100 million from the cancellation of the entire preseason and would be out another $140 million to $150 million with the regular-season losses. He wouldn’t speculate when more games would be trimmed from the schedule or how long it would take to get the league up and running if a deal is finally reached.
‘‘It’s a disappointment. There is no way around that,’’ Daly said. ‘‘I certainly hoped and would have expected we would be in a different place today.
‘‘In retrospect, I look back at it, and while we were all hopeful during the course of the summer that there was plenty of time to get a deal done, maybe the fault lies in the fact that we didn’t start negotiations until June 29. That goes back to the level of urgency maybe with the players’ association and not being prepared to have those discussions.’’
The NHL still says it is waiting for a new proposal from the union, with the owners adamant players accept a significant drop from the 57 percent of revenue they received under the salary cap in the last contract. The players don’t want what they consider massive cuts at a time when the overall revenue pot reached record numbers ($3.3 billion) last year.
‘‘For most of the last few weeks, unless it was on their terms, unless we’ve had a proposal, they don’t seem very interested in discussing the core economics,’’ Steve Fehr said. ‘‘Let’s keep in mind that they are the ones who started this with a request for a 24 percent rollback, which they’ve inched back a little, in addition to putting proposals on the table that would severely limit and curtail player contracting rights which had the predictable result of provoking players.
‘‘It is further compounded by their strategy of first lock out and then see what happens. That is why we are in this mess today.’’
Daly disagreed.
‘‘We’ve been down that road a couple of times and it continues to be our belief the union has made one meaningful proposal in this entire process — that was on Aug. 14. Now they have made it three times, and they are suggesting that it is three different proposals. It wasn’t,’’ he said. ‘‘Bottom line is it is difficult to understand why we should make a third proposal in their direction. At some point we’ve got to see a willingness from the players’ association to compromise because they haven’t shown any willingness to compromise at this point.’’
NHL, union talk, but do not make progress - Hockey - Boston-com
Seconds into the third period, Alexander Ovechkin took control of a loose puck — one that had stopped in a pool of water.
With three defensemen closing in, the Washington Capitals star backhanded a shot into the net for the game-winning goal.
It’s not the NHL, but as long as the lockout goes on, it’s as close as there is.
Ovechkin is one of the most recognizable names forced to head overseas by the NHL lockout, and he didn’t have to think twice about where to find an opportunity to play.
The star simply returned to his former Russian team, Dynamo Moscow — the defending champion of the Kontinental Hockey League.
“Home is home,” Ovechkin said during a road trip to Prague to face Lev Praha. “My family, friends, all people who wouldn’t have a chance to see me can come to watch the games.
“Besides, I’m glad that I can repay my debt to Dynamo. It was the club that got me ready for the big hockey.”
The NHL has already canceled the first two weeks of the regular season, wiping out 82 games from Thursday through Oct. 24.
In the meantime, the ambitious Russian-based KHL, which includes teams from other Eastern European countries, has clearly benefited from the availability of many top players.
“The NHL is not working right now,” said Ovechkin, the 2008 and 2009 NHL MVP. “So, the KHL is the best league.
“Well, of course you can see the difference. The first difference is the bigger ice and the game is not that fast than in the NHL, not that many hits in the game, but I can see the level of the game. I can see the guys — the skill of the players how they have great technique.”
Evgeni Malkin, a center with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the NHL’s reigning MVP, is committed to his hometown team in Magnitogorsk, while New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk has been signed by SKA St. Petersburg.
Zdeno Chara, a towering Boston Bruins defenseman, just joined Lev Praha, a new KHL franchise based in the Czech capital.
“As of right now, it is important for a lot of players, including myself, that we stay in shape and that we play and be in kind of organized hockey and keep up in good shape,” Chara told The Associated Press.
Chara played for Sparta Prague’s youth team before joining the Prince George Cougars in Canada’s Western Hockey League in 1996, after he failed to make the Sparta roster.
Fans are flocking to KHL arenas to see the best players on the planet.
When Ovechkin’s and Chara’s teams met Tuesday in Prague, it was before a KHL record crowd of 16,317.
“It’s very nice to see so many fans show up,” Chara said after a 1-0 loss on the goal scored by Ovechkin, his fourth of the season. “There’s not too many chances for people to come and see such great NHL players. Now, it’s the time.”
The KHL is not the only competition luring NHL players. Others have signed up to play in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic and even Britain.
Center Patrice Bergeron, Chara’s teammate with the Bruins, has reached a deal to join Swiss club Lugano. Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog plays for Swedish second-division club Djurgarden, and Philadelphia Flyers centers Claude Giroux and Danny Briere have been signed by Eisbaren Berlin.
In the Czech Republic, provincial team Kladno attracts big crowds because of the presence of its owner, Dallas Stars forward Jaromir Jagr, who is first in goals, assists and points among active NHL players. Jagr has signed four other NHL players for Kladno, including Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens.
Nearly 400 NHL players suited up in 19 different European leagues during the lockout that canceled the entire 2004-05 season. It’s not clear yet how many are coming this time, but the migration started a debate that the NHL players pushed others out of jobs.
“That’s absolute nonsense,” Jagr argued on Czech public television this week. “You can believe me that the young players now have somebody to learn from. I doubt that I would have ever reached my hockey level if I hadn’t had players such as Paul Coffey and Mario Lemieux around me. I learned from them every day.”
NHL players on the move to Europe during lockout : Times Argus Online
After all, ESPN2 announcers Steve Levy and Barry Melrose were calling the Tuesday matinee matchup.
The uniforms definitely looked different. Most of the names sounded funny. A few names were recognizable such as Alex Ovechkin and Zdeno Chara.
Yes, ESPN televised hockey last week like the old days before the NHL moved to the Outdoor Network. Only it wasn’t the NHL, but the KHL — the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League.
You might recall the NHL regular season was supposed to start last week. The Flyers were scheduled to play the Bruins in the season opener Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Of course, the NHL is on strike. Or, is it a lockout? Or is it a work stoppage?
Really, does any fan care what they say the latest beef between the owners and the players is called? Or what both sides say it is about? We already know the bottom line is about the money.
Well, ESPN needs to make some more mountains of money, too, so the network sent its NHL talkers over to Prague to do this KHL game.
Again, it is hockey, but not NHL hockey. For Ovechkin, he really doesn’t overly care because the ESPN guys said he is happy to be playing on Dynamo Moscow because it’s a championship team — unlike his Capitals.
Ovechkin is drawing a paycheck, so he is probably happy playing with his old pro team in Russia. He has a right to be happy, play hockey and get paid for it. For Chara, the big defenseman was back playing closer to home and not in Philly on Thursday night playing for Boston.
There are other NHL guys playing in various leagues across the Atlantic Ocean, too. The Flyers’ Danny Briere and Claude Giroux made their debut Friday in Germany. There are five other Flyers playing in Europe. All have the right to be happy, play hockey and get paid. For them, there is little downside to the NHL season being on ice except they aren’t being paid as much money to play a game.
Read More: Callahan: NHL players cause hardships overseas | Courier-Post | courierpostonline-com
The Avalanche players should be in Nashville on Monday night, getting sauce on their shirts at Jack's Bar-B-Que and listening to a singer hoping to be "discovered" in a Lower Broadway honky-tonk.
But instead of having a Tuesday game against the Predators, the Avs are scattered around the world.
The loss of regular-season hockey in October isn't enough of a betrayal by itself for Taylor Swift to write a song about it. In fact, here's what would make the lockout worth it: This results in a 64-game schedule that begins Dec. 1. The shorter season is so popular, all agree to make that the NHL's "normal" season.
But that isn't happening. The NBA isn't going to a shorter schedule, either. Major League Baseball isn't cutting back to 154 games and getting the World Series over in early October. Santa Claus isn't leaving me a new Harley.
So facing reality, here's the reason this lockout becomes more of an abomination every day. More so than in the other pro sports that have been through labor turmoil, this is a case of a league and its owners not only taking its fan base for granted. From commissioner Gary Bettman on down, the NHL is sticking out its tongue at its fans. And, yes, that's the nice way to put it.
It is a unique fan base, largely made up of discerning general sports followers who have a special affinity for hockey. At times, that is bothersome, especially when "new" fans trying to learn about and embrace the sport are given the impression this is a private club with a password at the door. (This week's password, in honor of the Marx Brothers, is "Swordfish.")
But fans are being asked to buy a bunch of malarkey, and they're too smart to do it.
At least this time, the league doesn't seem to be trying as often to claim it is acting on behalf of its fans, also. During the 2004-05 lost season, Bettman correctly identified exorbitant ticket prices as a problem, saying one of the goals was to make them affordable in ensuing years. That turned out to be hot air. If the salary rollback and hard cap system implemented in 2005 came with ticket-price rollbacks and freezes, Bettman would have gained respect.
Now, the NHL and its owners are saying the system they shut down for a year to get isn't good enough. They're saying they needed to be saved from themselves, that apparently those long-term, front-loaded contracts designed to circumvent the spirit of the system are the product of hallucinogens slipped into their water as they put together the offers. They're saying that a commissioner who made expansion to "new" territories a keystone of his strategy now should be fine with the most powerful owners' refusal to go along with significant and realistic revenue sharing to keep the entire league viable.
I recently wrote that Bettman shouldn't be allowed to be the lightning rod, the sole villain. I feel more strongly about that now. The moderates should be stepping up. They should be arguing that enough is enough. They should be questioning the obvious strategy of making the players sweat, do the math and conclude that they need to give in. That's good "economics," but insulting, galling and even perilous in the bigger picture of a sport that depends on ultraloyalty of its fan base.
Here in Denver, Kroenke Sports Enterprises — in part because it has a basketball-first mentality and considers the Avalanche a secondary property — seems a passive bystander as others chart the NHL's stubborn stand. But this is KSE's second lockout in a year. There is much hockey competition in the market now, from the kids' squirt games to the collegiate Denver Pioneers and the minor-league Denver Cutthroats. The hard-core fans are disillusioned now, and not only because of the Avs' struggles on the ice. They don't need more excuses to stay away from the Pepsi Center and, if they watch at all, catch the games on HDTV.
Again, KSE is asking arena employees and others dependent on those Pepsi Center nights for at least part of their income to grin and bear it. Last year, basketball had a broken system it at least tweaked in a settlement, with the megamoney in television contracts the safety net that made it unnecessary to stage a complete revolution. This time, fans — including those hockey-first loyalists — are being asked to be patient ... by executives and owners who are insulting them more every day the lockout drags on.
Read more: Terry Frei: NHL lockout a bigger abomination every day - The Denver Post Terry Frei: NHL lockout a bigger abomination every day - The Denver Post
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Having grown up as a 'wannabe' ice hockey player, Swedish golfer Jonas Blixt has been totally frustrated by the cancellation of the first two weeks of the 2012-13 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
While Blixt is riding a wave of exhilaration after winning his first PGA Tour title at the Frys-com Open in San Martin, California on Sunday, the NHL lockout has become an ugly black cloud on his personal horizon.
"I love ice hockey, it's the greatest sport ever," PGA Tour rookie Blixt told reporters after clinching victory by one shot after closing with a three-under-par 68 at CordeValle Golf Club.
"The lockout just kills me right now. I hope they make a deal soon."
Last week, the NHL canceled the first two weeks of the regular season with no end in sight to the labor dispute with locked-out players.
The decision impacts 82 games that were scheduled from October 11-24 and marked the first time regular season action has been canceled since a lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.
Blixt, who became the eighth Swedish player to win on the PGA Tour, had to give up on his own ice hockey future at the age of 18.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
"I was a defender but I never really got big enough or good enough to play ice hockey," the 28-year-old smiled. "Golf kind of suited me pretty well. I just kept on playing golf and try to make a career out of it."
Blixt, who earned his PGA Tour card for this year by finishing fifth in the 2011 Web-com Tour money list, said his father, Hans Ove, had inspired his golf career.
"It's all my dad," the Swede added. "My dad loves the game. He's the biggest grinder I know. He always wants to compete. The more pressure you put on him the better he plays."
Blixt's first memory of being on a golf course dates back to when he was aged just eight.
"My dad took me out and we played 27 holes," he recalled. "My mom was furious afterwards. She was really nice to me that night, pampering me, but not very nice with my dad.
"Often we just kept on playing until we couldn't see the ball. It was crazy. Dad didn't want to go home; I didn't want to go home."
Asked how big golf's profile was in his native Sweden, Blixt replied: "Soccer is the most popular sport, and then ice hockey. Golf is like the third-most popular sport over there.
"If you're a guy, you want to play hockey. It's like baseball over here. The tough guys play hockey, you know, the guys with no teeth. All the girls, they play hockey," he added with a broad grin.
Blixt's victory on Sunday earned him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a place in next year's PGA Championship, the fourth and final major of the season.
NHL lockout the sole black cloud on Blixt's horizon | Reuters
The NHL didn’t need a Frank Luntz line to reshape public opinion. They needed one from Seth Rogen.
When Gary Bettman finally blinked he made what is the owners’ first substantive offer. It’s one which will resonate with both the public and the players and which could — could — provide the blueprint to an actual deal which would save the season. The whole 82-game season.
Whether Bettman was pressured by a group of owners demanding an 82-game schedule or this was all part of the plan, there is no getting around it:
The proposal just looks so damn handsome when you compare it with the bleak atmosphere surrounding talks and the owners’ repugnant proposal that started the negotiations in the summer.
Then, the owners were demanding players share of hockey-related revenue nosedive to 43 per cent from 57.
Now, quoting Rogen’s 2011 flick, Bettman is willing to go 50/50. A seven per cent nosedive doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?
See what he did there?
The proposal turned public opinion on a dime, and it puts pressure on the players, who many fans believe should just take it and move on.
It wasn’t enough to excite players but it was enough to perk them up. They have been resigned for months to the reality they would be the ones making all the concessions if a deal was ever going to be brokered.
"The league is doing very well, three-quarters of the teams are doing very well, so I’m still not sure why there’s this assumption we need to make the concessions," Kevin Bieksa said. "But that’s the way it is. We’re eager to get a deal done. And we’re hoping to get a deal done. I’m hoping the fans notice that. That we’re not asking for more money at a time when we could be.
"We’re trying to work with the league and come to terms with them and create a deal that’s going to help these bottom-end teams."
Cory Schneider described the negotiation this way: "It’s about making their demands less demanding."
Many believe the owners did just that with their surprise offer. People will point to the difference between the current 57 per cent cut the players get and conclude they should jump at 50/50. Really, what is seven per cent?
But when the NBA locked out its players for months last year, the league (offering 47 per cent) and the players (countering at 53 per cent) were only six per cent apart.
"I think overall, it’s definitely a good sign, if everything is true," Schneider said. "However, by no means, does this mean we are going to say ‘yes’ right away."
Schneider was then asked if this was "too good to be true." Imagine, a seven per cent hit can be considered too good to be true. But that’s the landscape the NHL has manufactured.
Schneider said his No. 2 issue after the HRR cut is the rules governing players’ contracts. The owners are seeking major concessions, including limiting the length of deals to five years. Also, the owners want to extend the number of accrued years to eight before a player is a UFA.
"The fact they made a gesture toward us, coming to meet us, is a good sign," Schneider said. "It’s obviously a good sign.
"I can’t get too excited yet. This could still take a long time. By no means does this mean it’s a done deal, just because they made a movement toward us."
The proposal calls for a one-week training camp and an 82-game schedule which begins Nov. 2. This will reverberate among the players because of the carrot that they wouldn’t lose a pay cheque.
"I don’t think they want to lose revenue and we don’t want to lose pay cheques," Schneider said. "I think this is a way to get everyone what they were promised and what they think they should get.
"It may be a different tune six months from now when guys are beat up, and haven’t had as much rest as they can. But I think we’d rather play 82 games than 70."
A condensed schedule promises to be more difficult for older teams which travel a lot. Hello, Vancouver Canucks.
"It would be tough, especially for us, with the travel," Schneider said. "In the NBA last year, there were a lot of injuries toward the end of the year. There were severe ones, including ACLs, Achilles, and things like that.
"This isn’t the NBA, but it’s definitely a physical sport with a lot of travel."
Oh, and in the NBA during that condensed schedule it was the two youngest teams in the league which made the finals.
Count Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews among those players not all that impressed by the NHL's latest proposal to the union on a new collective bargaining agreement.
"It's something, but it's not anything to get overly excited about," Toews said Wednesday after a news conference to promote the "Champs for Charity" game Oct. 26 at Allstate Arena. "We'll look at it and consider it and see where we go from there."
The league offered a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue Tuesday with the intention of saving an 82-game regular season that would begin Nov. 2 if a deal could be worked out within a week or so.
"As long as they don't think it's like their final, drastic attempt to salvage an 82-game season," Toews said. "If they were that desperate to conserve an 82-game season and get things done, this would have been done already. There's no real effort there."
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman discussed the proposal Tuesday with reporters, and the full offer was released to the media and posted on NHL-com on Wednesday, something Toews called "an interesting tactic."
"They're trying to sway public opinion, and I don't think that's a secret," Toews added. "There's no coincidence that they've been so quiet and all of a sudden they come out … talking about the season starting Nov. 2. They're playing an angle there."
Added Hawks forward Patrick Kane: "It's probably a good move by (the NHL) to put the offer out and make it look like they're offering us everything we want — especially to the media. But (the proposal) is a good steppingstone. It's something you can build off, and for the players union, it's something you can negotiate by now."
Despite what they perceive as media spin by the NHL, players are encouraged to see some movement after negotiations had produced little since the lockout began Sept. 15.
"Any form of movement or any meeting is always a sign of progress," Toews said. "Hopefully it gets the ball rolling the right way."
Even if that ball isn't rolling quite at the speed the players hope, Toews said there is no chance the union will pounce on just any offer the league presents to salvage a full season.
"It's never part of our frame of mind, especially considering what happened eight years ago — there's no such thing as settling," Toews said, referring to the lockout that canceled the 2004-05 season. "We have to be smart and stand up for ourselves and remain together the way we have the whole time."
NHL lockout: Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews underwhelmed by NHL's latest proposal to players union - chicagotribune-com
CBC president Hubert Lacroix acknowledged this week that a delayed or canceled season would be "a cash flow challenge for us."
While Lacroix said CBC has "replacement programming", it's still not fully clear how networks will fill the void created by a lockout.
"In Canada, if you want to start a conversation, you either talk about hockey or the weather -- and now we're reduced to the weather," said Jim Hughson, the play-by-play announcer for "Hockey Night in Canada." "There isn't any hockey at the National Hockey League level to talk about, and I just don't think that the networks have found adequate replacements for that."
This is the NHL's fourth work stoppage in 20 years. Preseason games for September already have been called off. The regular season is scheduled to begin Oct. 11.
In previous shutdowns, the networks aired more major junior and American Hockey League games. But Hughson said the ratings and revenues do not justify the production costs, which are about on par with NHL telecasts.
Read More: NHL lockout could hit Canadian TV networks hard | Detroit Red Wings | Detroit Free Press | freep-com