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#Post#: 57--------------------------------------------------
NHL Lockout: Difficulty in Breaking the Ice
By: Rrashid Date: October 9, 2012, 7:57 pm
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By Rifath Rashid 14'
Just like the NBA did, the NHL is now experiencing an unpleasant
altercation between the team owners and the players regarding
none other than, money. The argument is over who should make
more money, a question that is always brought up by athletes
making millions of dollars annually. But, as the saying goes,
“more money, more problems,” and unfortunately in this case fans
will be shutout from hockey action until the dispute is
completely resolved.
In numerical terms, the conflict stems from the difference in
share percentage of income between owners and players. In
previous years, players have received 57% of the income, while
owners owned 43%. With the 10% difference between the shares,
which when you think about could amount to millions of dollars
depending on how much revenue a team makes, it’s intelligible
that the owners would want to negotiate a better deal. In order
to close the share gap, owners have asked for the share of
revenue for players to drop down from 57% to 47%. As a result,
the owners’ share percentage would increase to 53%, giving them
a 6% lead over the players. The players union has grudgingly
agreed to accept a share percentage of 53%, but that proposal is
inconsistent with the owners’ goals and still gives players a 6%
lead over the owners. On the other hand, for players who would
hate to see their wallet weigh thousands of dollars less, major
negotiations, such as a 10% drop in their revenue, appear to be
nonexistent.
Both sides have had trouble in breaking the ice and ending the
lockout. Owners have failed to persuade the players to accept a
percentage change, and players have remained intractable.
Regarding the end of the lockout, Bill Daly, NHL deputy
commissioner, noted, “Ultimately, it’s their call. Hopefully,
we all want a quicker resolution to this negotiation than a
longer one. How the PA [Player’s Association] ultimately decides
to deal with that issue will be very telling.”
“After some of my experiences in baseball, I’m out of the
prediction business. I don’t think I’m any better at it than
anybody else. All I can say is, you try every day. You hope and
you hope it starts just as soon it possibly can,” said Donald
Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players Association.
Similar to Daly, Fehr and the rest of the Players Association
want the lockout to end as soon as possible.
In the meantime, the league will lose an appreciable amount of
money while the Lockout persists. Last year, the preseason for
the NHL was cancelled and the league lost a hundred million
dollars. Preseason games don’t even attract that many fans.
So, if the cancellation of a couple of preseason games results
in a hundred million dollar deficit, it will be interesting to
see how much money may be lost due to the cancellation of
regular season games, which attract hordes of fans.
Another question that has been brought up as a result of the
lockout is what should the players be doing in the meantime?
Well, some are patiently waiting for the conclusion to the
arguments and are eager to return to the ice. However, others,
who are not confident that the lockout will end any time soon,
have made deals with European hockey teams that are now making
efforts to attract NHL players.
“Feels like I’m going to practice without a purpose, and I hate
it,” tweeted Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who, like many
players, is anxious to resume playing hockey.
Until the lockout comes to end, players, owners, and even the
millions of employees that work in NHL arenas, are being greatly
affected. So far, prospects of the lockout reaching its demise
in the near future don’t seem too positive. However, both sides
understand that the lockout is detrimental to the welfare of the
sport and the support of its fans, and are making efforts to end
it as soon as they can.
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