Need a little more fuck the Union in here so...Fuck the players! Seriously, fuck 'em. See how bad a salary cap or an average salary significantly lower but still over $1M US, or sliding revenue sharing around 50% is when the NHL goes belly up and they are all in a beer league after coming home from their 9-5's. Sure the owner's screwed up paying them that much, but now something needs to correct the situation. whether or not you believe the players, owners or the Levitt report, it's pretty plain to see the NHL could not continue as it was. If nothing changed, the whole league would probably go under in a few years anyhow due to dwindling popularity and escalating salaries. It's not entirely unrealistic, Bettman's claim that they will lose less money this year by not playing. Personally I'm not all for the owners point of view, but seemed to be a lot of dismissal out of hand of nearly everything they say because they are the owners (and commish is a lawyer). As I said, just a little balancer. Fuck 'em all is probably the best sentiment though. Which will happen. I don't see the league recovering from this quickly, if at all, when this is said and done.
You know what I could see happening? The NHL folds and the NHLPA is left scrambling to find jobs. From the ashes rises a new global hockey league. 10 teams in North America, 10 teams in Europe. N.American Conference: Toronto, Montreal, New York, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Edmonton, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, St. Louis European Conference: Helsinki, Stockholm, Berlin, Bratislava, Prague, Minsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zurich, Kiev The top 4 teams in each conference make the playoffs, which is a similar format as the World Cup (round robin and then elimination games), but is played in an alternating and predetermined area every year. For example: the first year would be played in the northeastern part of the US (New York, Boston, Hartford, Portland), the next would be in the old USSR locations (Kiev, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk), then back to eastern Canadian cities (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Hamilton), etc. With a smaller number of teams, you end up with a true "world elite" league. Anyone could play with any team they choose (so Thornton could sign with Zurich, Selanne with Chicago, Hossa with Helsinki), and there would be salary caps (and minimums), shared revenue (from regular season games, tv rights, and playoffs) and reduced travel (until playoff time). With a true world league, you'd build up a global fanbase that would embrace the "World Cup" every 4 years (also adding to the coffers). The rules would be a mix of NHL and European: no-touch icing, no centre red line, 4-on-4 regular season overtime (but a shoot out at the end if it's still tied after 10 minutes), unlimited overtime for elimination playoff games and no fighting (or stronger penalties). It won't happen, but it would be nice to dream about...
grum: that actually does sound pretty awesome. It's only a matter of time before one of the major american sports becomes a real multinational (sorry, America, Jr.) and hockey is the obvious choice right now. Would certainly perk up my interest.
and no fighting You had me up until there, grum...
and no fighting You had me up until there, grum... Well, if you figure that in the "elite league" format, there won't be too many guys who's primary job is to fight. Therefore, you'd be left with the "power forward" types like Iginla, Tkachuk, Roberts...guys who will fight, but their team would rather didn't fight. I'm not saying there WOULDN'T be any fights, I'm just thinking that it would be one of those "game ejection" results that would keep it to a minimum. Besides...did we really "miss" fighting during the WC? There was (I think) one scrap. Instead of fights, guys got back at each other with some THUNDEROUS hits (especially the Canada/Finland game).
Go New York! Bratislava sucks! Oh, and fuck Brett Hull, just because.
...because he doesn't give a fuck?
grum, I nominate you for commish. And as commish, I have one suggestion to put forward. Some form of promotion/relegation should be incorporated, so even the B league would be worth following.
Well, with a format like that and with 10 teams per continent, the B league would totally be worth following. Great idea, grum. You've got me thinking about it too. I don't know how Vancouver can not have an A league team, though. I don't know who you'd drop. (You want Edmonton in there, really, you do. Philly, maybe. Fuck 'em.)
I really, really like grum's proposal. I've always thought that rather than trying to force feed hockey to American's they should take the NHL to where there is already a fan base.... Europe. The only thing I would change is your playoff format. I really dislike 1 game elimination because 1 lucky bounce is all it takes for a lesser team to win. That and Calgary must have a team... why the hell would you pick Edmonton over Calgary! Shame on you. ;-)
You could maybe go to 12 teams, then. Add two more in Europe (Frankfurt? Riga? Oslo? Vienna? Rhein? Munich? Geneva? London?), and Vancouver and Calgary in North America (seeing as the whole concept of this league is going to be sniffed at by the US Networks anyways, and chasing their money has been a losing proposition for the NHL for decades, the hell with it, bring the teams to where you can count on a supportive culture and consistent stadium revenue at least). You don't want to go past 24 top-level teams, though. The glorious day this all happens is the day monkeys sprout gossamer wings, and fly in perfect formation from my bum. And no one will be happier than I to admit I was wrong about it.
Grum, maybe you should call Lamar Hunt or Phillip Anschutz, those guys have an eye for new leagues. Also, I like the B League with promotion/relegation enhancement and very definitely the no fighting--no other sport needs it so why hockey? SportsFilter: Fuck Keith Tckachuk, Brett Hull and the NHL Owners. Just cause...
there was a detailed amateur proposal for a similar International League that I think I saw on hockeypundits (which now seems to be defunct). i wish i could find it to see if there were any ideas there to add. (of course if one of those hockeypundits guys just pipped in here with that info that would be good too).
Bettman's letter of apology to us fans....I'm eagerly looking forward to the PAs mirrored message.'
"...while giving your team the opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup every season." And they posted this on the Rangers' site? Pfffff. Okay, now we know he's not connected to reality.
world-class NHL hockey at ticket prices you can afford. I guess we can expect a reduction in ticket prices once this thing is all worked out. Hell, he put it in writing.
From Bettman's letter: Our mandate at the League is to do everything possible to reflect our respect for your connection to NHL hockey You see there Gary, I believe you are following your mandate by locking out the players...because I truly believe that you don't give 2 shits about the fans. The NHL cannot survive this, no matter what you might think. The fans' loyalty outside a handful of cities is unstable at best, and you will lose a tons of fans because of this. Outside of Toronto, Montreal, and Detroit, can you name me one city that has an NHL team, plus another major league team, where hockey is the top sport? 90% of your fan base could care less if the league shuts down, and people are sick of the pissing contests between owners and players. If you really cared about your fans, you would've come to some kind of agreement by now. Hell, you've had 10 years to get a deal done. You don't care, and I won't even pretend to believe that you do...
So where does Roenick's It's a business, we hope you understand, be sure and come watch us again when this is all over take stand on the gving 2 shits about fans scale? The players are just as culpable in not getting something done oer the last 10 years.
The difference is, the union has made an effort to get something done...as half-hearted as it may be, they at least made an effort. Where's are the owners' proposals? I've yet to hear about one. CBA stands for Collective Bargaining Agreement. The owners are not trying to come to an agreement, they want it their way or not at all. I know the NHL is fucked up financially, but these same owners that are screaming that they're going broke are the same guys that were signing guys to ridiculous contracts, or allowing their peers to do so. I don't fault any person for taking every penny they can get from their employer...if your boss offered you $1 million a year to do your job, would your first thought be "gee, what will this do to the stability of this company?" Hell no it wouldn't. (unless your the company accountant)...
As I understand it they proposed 6...all had what the union construed to be salary caps. The players just keep floating the same proposal with different words as well, so how hard are they really trying? 6 of one.... Again whether or not the owner's are lying or hiding financials, the players need to realize they must take a major paycut for the league to remain viable. That is quite obvious (to me anyhow). This isn't about who's to blame for where the NHL is, it is about what needs to be done for there to continue being an NHL. The bigger issue is that aside from true hockey fans (a daily dwindling small number) no one really gives a shit. Last night on a national talk radio show the host was begging for calls about reaction to the lockout...he got very few. The ones he did get were decidedly pro-NHL, hoping they broke the union in half. All Average Joe knows is these guys are bitching about millions of dollars while they can't even afford to take their family to a game anymore. I don't fault any person for taking every penny they can get from their employer...if your boss offered you $1 million a year to do your job, would your first thought be "gee, what will this do to the stability of this company?" I don't really fault them that either, take what you can get. But now is the time to give back a little. As I said this is not about why they are here, it is what needs to be done to fix it. A better twist on your job nalogy would be if I were making the $1M and my boss said "This is a very specialized industry and we are the biggest player on the block. We are going to go under. You can keep your $1M and we fold. If you took $500K we will be good for the long term. Or you can move to Russia and make $50K."
The problem with the western N.America teams (Vancouver, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver) is that travel for the eastern N.America teams would be a bitch, and vice versa. And there are far more strong hockey markets in easter Canada/America than there are in the western area. I included Edmonton because I thought that a single team in Alberta might work. If it was my choice, I'd have both Calgary and Alberta, but then which US team gets the heave-ho? If I was running it, I'd work out some sort of cross-promotional deal with VIA/Amtrak/Eurotrain where all the teams travelled by first-class train between games. Even make a fan participation thing by having "meet the players" and "travel with the pros" contests ON THE TRAIN. The players and fans can walk about and mingle in a controlled environment, but privacy can be achieved by allowing the players to retreat to their own car afterwards. The playoffs would obviously have to be a worked out. A best-of-seven series really only works when you are dealing with true "home/away" scenarios. If you are playing in a neutral site, there is a bigger draw to a single-game (or at most, best-of-three) playoff decision. However, more playoff games (at higher ticket prices) means more money for everyone involved, so what do I know.
Again whether or not the owner's are lying or hiding financials, the players need to realize they must take a major paycut for the league to remain viable. That is quite obvious (to me anyhow). But it is less obvious to the union, either through cognitive dissonance, or because the league may actually be misrepresenting its losses. Nobody can agree on how much the league is losing. I can understand the fan resentment towards the players, because while they're hunting for ideological purity (a free-market system for their labour), they're still hockey players making millions. I just don't think it holds any water when you compare it to what the owners have done, which is trip over each other to offer ridiculous contracts to star players (who are usually playing for other, smaller-market teams), report some revenues here and others over there, and generally shit in their own nest. We can all agree that the players needs to take a paycut -- and their 5% offer is ridiculous, it should be more like 20% -- but the owners should have to make the greater concessions in these debates. That means accepting the luxury tax proposal (or similar) and forgetting the salary cap.
Correct me if I'm wrong, if the owners had done ANYTHING as a group to keep contracts down, is that not collusion? I'm not saying they had to pay the high contracts, but they could not stop someone else from doing so even if they were so inclined. Ueberroth tried that once. That means accepting the luxury tax proposal (or similar) and forgetting the salary cap. Could be a solution but won't happen. Too far gone. It is now the owner's way or the highway. At any rate it is too late. The more I think about it the more the NHL is doomed. "Game On" logoed apparel and commercials won't fix this one if they miss the season. Stayed tuned next week on "Bad Play, Stupid Contracts, Expansion, and Rising Fan Costs Kill Your League": The NBA.
And remember - The Cup predates the NHL by a good margin. The new league could go get it. Because any top-level pro-hockey league is just fluff without the Holy Grail. 12 teams in NA: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Philly, New York (just one), Detroit, Minny, Boston, Colorado. With Boston and Vancouver on the bubble (fans need to actually show up and care - I'm not convinced Boston has that anymore and Chicago certainly does not). European teams as Grum has outlined. Use the big ice, tag-up icing and no red line. Keep everything else relatively the same (no instigator). All told a good idea. I like hockey. The NHL can kiss my hockey-loving ass (Players included).
[via offwingopinion] midway into the summer they were really close (to a negotiation or to a deal, i'm not sure)- but now they are so far apart that she isn't expecting a season at all this year. Nothing earth shattering, but i hadn't known of any progress, regardless of it being junked in favor of....whatever you call where we're at.
In the absence (groan) of any better place at spofi to drop in such a minor item... the above link pointed out Tuomo Ruutu's website. Who knew? (At the World Cup the Finns were calling Team USA Team Viagra, heh)
this sounds interesting, though the content update/s could use improvement.
You're pointing to two different things there. Never heard of the original six thing but the Original Stars Hockey League was what was in the news items (and something I mentioned in another thread). That being said, the website is indeed a few days behind the times. But $25 a ticket? I don't know if I would be that desperate yet.
garfield: I think you have a mixup there. Original Stars Hockey League is not the same thing as Original Six Hockey League. The Deep River Original Six league seems to be a (literal) beer league in the town of Deep River, Ontario.
sorry guys. thanks for clarifying. i had a long Sunday of partypoker and vodka.
sorry guys. thanks for clarifying. i had a long Sunday of partypoker and vodka. Party Poker and Vodka: Sport or not a sport?
Not sure, but today I feel like I ran the ball for a buck-fifteen with 30 touches. Would a pain-received quotient help us determine the answer? Inquiring minds want to know.
Partypoker is fun, but there are too many douchebags who think they are Jesus himself. I could go for the vodka, though.
