Comments on: Attention, NHL Players: DO THE MATH http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/ Fact or opinion? Exactly. Mon, 20 May 2013 04:59:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: DougS http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/#comment-3577 DougS Tue, 04 Sep 2012 06:36:00 +0000 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/?p=13282#comment-3577 There is one big reason: Someone has to put up the capital to make the new league work. I agree that a new players’ league could find new venues, although they wouldn’t be much compared to the NHL arenas. But there’s also the question of travel and who is going to administer the new league. Who is going to pay for all of that, including the new venues?

I suppose you could make the argument that the wealthier players could pool funds. Or new investors could step it. But whoever steps in to provide the initial investment in the new league becomes — guess what — team owners! With the same bothersome concerns over profitability that the current owners have. You’re just replacing one set of team bosses with another set of team bosses, and the issues that divide players and owners will never truly go away.

]]> By: Kings of Hockeywood http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/#comment-3576 Kings of Hockeywood Sun, 02 Sep 2012 17:36:00 +0000 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/?p=13282#comment-3576 Starting their own league is an interesting idea that no one ever really talks about. There’s really no reason they couldn’t do it.

As for the owners owning all the rinks, the players could find different ones. The Kings could play at the Forum again. Or the teams could move to nearby cities where NHL ownership doesn’t control arenas. Enough arenas are owned at least in whole or part by cities too that they could pass ordinances to break leases if pro leagues lockout their players. The cities lose so much revenue from missed games that it would absolutely make fiscal sense for them to do that.

As for a lack of coaches, they could always have player-coaches or plum the ranks of the junior leagues across North America for guys who’d be willing to jump ship. There are also plenty of coaches who have emigrated to the KHL and other European leagues who could get a shot in a PA-run league.

Nevertheless, there is less than a Coyotes’ chance in Phoenix of it happening. Which is too bad.

]]> By: USHA#17 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/#comment-3575 USHA#17 Sun, 02 Sep 2012 17:09:00 +0000 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/?p=13282#comment-3575 I’d be willing to drive to Culver City, Pasadena, or Van Nuys to see the Kings play. Even if it means midnight face offs.

Meanwhile a season (or two) without sports (gave up the others 20 years ago) might do my tan some good.

I think a good place for a negotiating starting point for negotiating would be at Kevin Lowe’s lynching.

]]> By: Quisp http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/#comment-3574 Quisp Sun, 02 Sep 2012 02:01:00 +0000 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/?p=13282#comment-3574 Well, it DOES come down to salary, since all of the issues come down to salary in various forms (revenue split is salary, escrow is salary, free agent age is salary, term limit is salary, etc.). Because the owners have all the power. The players can either fold now (and have more money now) or fold later (and have less money now and the promise of slightly more money later) or hold out for a length of time that would actually cause the owners to cave, by which I mean more than one full season, 1.5-2 seasons. The players simply can’t hold out for two full seasons, which is probably what it would take, and the owners know they can’t. So the owners will wait, and the players will fold. So the smart (and logical) move is to be coldly rational and pick the best of the horrible options.

The owners don’t have to be consistent or fair. Because it’s their league. I’m not “on the side” of the owners. That’s just reality.

On the other hand, if the NHLPA wants to form its own league from scratch, I would into that, maybe. I don’t know where they would get coaches from (since the good ones are under NHL contract and aren’t repped by the NHLPA). And of course they would have nowhere to play, since the owners own the rinks.

I agree with you that the owners are to blame. But there’s no justice in business.

]]> By: Meg Jarrell http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/#comment-3573 Meg Jarrell Sat, 01 Sep 2012 18:15:00 +0000 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/?p=13282#comment-3573 This would be great logic IF annual contract price was the only issue. Sadly it’s not. I don’t see the players folding and I don’t think they should. Until the owners make some rules that they will actually live by and not circumvent, I hope the players stonewall them. This mess was created by the owners because they can’t control themselves. They’re the ones that have allowed player salaries to escalate like they have. The owners have no one but themselves to blame, so I have no tolerance for them crying poor when they’re a huge part of the problem.

]]> By: Bob Knob http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/#comment-3572 Bob Knob Sat, 01 Sep 2012 17:06:00 +0000 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/?p=13282#comment-3572 That’s pretty good, can you do the math for the owners now?

Perhaps they think the owners have more to lose and think they will fold first.

]]> By: jmsalsa http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/2012/08/attention-nhl-players-do-the-math/#comment-3571 jmsalsa Sat, 01 Sep 2012 05:36:00 +0000 http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/?p=13282#comment-3571 awesome.

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