The Final Nail in the Hockey Experience Coffin

[rats19]

I don't see that the players owe anything to the owners for being the go-between from the fan's wallet to the players' paycheques.

Exactly. Basically, the owners play the part of the pimp.

so...that makes the players the ..........!

[Per]

balance all that with a guy who spends a life time of 5 am practices with families who sacrifice money, holidays and hours on the road driving to games all in the effort to make it in the big time, only to be told where to play, how to play, how much you are paid and if you dont like it, fuck you go home? There is no one on this site who would accept such working conditions, and its all OK because they get million dollar paycheques? bullshit

Are you kidding? I did all that shit for fun.

Being a professional hockey player is easily one of the bet occupations on the entire planet. I suspect most Canadians would rather be a good NHL player then just about anything else.

It is hilarious that anyone would try to garner sympathy for them.

I say you're both right. It's a phenomenal job, but it takes huge sacrifices to get there and to stay there. And at the end of their career many hockey players are more or less crippled. Bad backs, bad knees, false teeth, various ailments caused by multiple concussions... Still. The best of them make a huge amount of money while doing what they love most. It's worse for the also-rans, the once who made the exact same sacrifices but never reach the level where they can cash in.

[Per]

I don't see that the players owe anything to the owners for being the go-between from the fan's wallet to the players' paycheques.

Exactly. Basically, the owners play the part of the pimp.

so...that makes the players the ..........!

... the ones who get screwed.

[rats19]

Exactly. Basically, the owners play the part of the pimp.

[/quote]so...that makes the players the .........![/quote]

... the ones who get screwed. :wink

no you got it all wrong per...its the johns that get screwed..ie the fans

[Meds]

If the market goes totally south and suddenly the cap has to fall, and teams are over limit and have to bury players in the minors or what have you, then it is still the owner left holding the bag at the end of the day while the player pulls a Mark Messier and sues the franchise to get his money.

Not sure what Mark Messier has to do with any of this. He sued the Canucks and rightfully collected the 6 million that he had coming to him. I have no idea why John McCaw would sign off on a clause that would pay Messier a percentage of franchise appreciating during his stint here , but he did and a deals a deal.

That was the point Blob.....a deal is a deal. Players could come after owners for money owed even if suddenly the market tanked and teams couldn't afford the salaries. Longshot example, but all the same, it's bullshit when a business owner can't lay-off or fire an employee due to poor performance or changing economic circumstances. They can buy them out, but it's the whole contract they pay out, not just a severance package.....

[Mondi]

A guaranteed contract is a rare thing in this world, there is no reason the owners should have to include that in a CBA.

What really gets me is the arrogance of both sides, we know this about money. This is not "philosophical". This is about freaking cash.

The sooner these fools get in a room, lock the door and realize they have to split the difference on this one, the sooner we can drop the puck.

The supposed details whatever they may be, are just pointless rhetoric.

[Potatoe1]

I say you're both right. It's a phenomenal job, but it takes huge sacrifices to get there and to stay there. And at the end of their career many hockey players are more or less crippled. Bad backs, bad knees, false teeth, various ailments caused by multiple concussions... Still. The best of them make a huge amount of money while doing what they love most. It's worse for the also-rans, the once who made the exact same sacrifices but never reach the level where they can cash in.

Some have health problems, but the vast majority are perfectly fine after hockey.

In my mind being a pro hockey player is akin to winning the lottery, easily one of the most enjoyable careers on the planet and one where you can easily set yourself up with enough money to be be very wealthy until the day you die.

They straight up deserve no sympathy regardless of how badly they get their asses handed to them in the CBA. Unless that is we should also feel sorry for movie stars and popular musicians.

That said they do have every right to negotiate the best deal they can (as do the owners), but turning it into some sort of riotous cause is utterly ridiculous.

[ClamRussel]

I say you're both right. It's a phenomenal job, but it takes huge sacrifices to get there and to stay there. And at the end of their career many hockey players are more or less crippled. Bad backs, bad knees, false teeth, various ailments caused by multiple concussions... Still. The best of them make a huge amount of money while doing what they love most. It's worse for the also-rans, the once who made the exact same sacrifices but never reach the level where they can cash in.

Some have health problems, but the vast majority are perfectly fine after hockey.

In my mind being a pro hockey player is akin to winning the lottery, easily one of the most enjoyable careers on the planet and one where you can easily set yourself up with enough money to be be very wealthy until the day you die.

They straight up deserve no sympathy regardless of how badly they get their asses handed to them in the CBA. Unless that is we should also feel sorry for movie stars and popular musicians.

That said they do have every right to negotiate the best deal they can (as do the owners), but turning it into some sort of riotous cause is utterly ridiculous.

Fair enough, but the same should be said about the owners.
That people often make comparisons to regular business owners is a joke. For the vast majority of owners, the sports franchise is a "racing horse". All of them have made their money elsewhere or inherited it. ...or in the case of Jamison, borrowed it from investors. These guys are multi-mill/billionaires and an NHL team is just for conversation, bragging rights or to get fucked by hot puck bunnies and models. Owners don't like to lose money, who does? ...but it hardly makes a difference whether the split is 50/50 or 53/47. This fight is all about power, control and Bettman justifying his existence.
To make this a righteous cause on behalf of the owners is ludicrous.

A bunch of millionaires and billionaires squabbling over gas money.

[Jovocop]

Fair enough, but the same should be said about the owners.
That people often make comparisons to regular business owners is a joke. For the vast majority of owners, the sports franchise is a "racing horse". All of them have made their money elsewhere or inherited it. ...or in the case of Jamison, borrowed it from investors. These guys are multi-mill/billionaires and an NHL team is just for conversation, bragging rights or to get fucked by hot puck bunnies and models. Owners don't like to lose money, who does? ...but it hardly makes a difference whether the split is 50/50 or 53/47. This fight is all about power, control and Bettman justifying his existence.
To make this a righteous cause on behalf of the owners is ludicrous.

A bunch of millionaires and billionaires squabbling over gas money.

I am not sure that it is the case. Billionaires still need to make money. A million to them might like a loonie to you and me; however, they do care about each million that they can save just like you and me trying to save a loonie here and there.

[Fred]

Fair enough, but the same should be said about the owners.
That people often make comparisons to regular business owners is a joke. For the vast majority of owners, the sports franchise is a "racing horse". All of them have made their money elsewhere or inherited it. ...or in the case of Jamison, borrowed it from investors. These guys are multi-mill/billionaires and an NHL team is just for conversation, bragging rights or to get fucked by hot puck bunnies and models. Owners don't like to lose money, who does? ...but it hardly makes a difference whether the split is 50/50 or 53/47. This fight is all about power, control and Bettman justifying his existence.
To make this a righteous cause on behalf of the owners is ludicrous.

A bunch of millionaires and billionaires squabbling over gas money.

I don't believe any business man likes to loose money. It's the nadir of every thing they stand for. As I've mentioned before if you want evidence of how a businessmans brain works watch Kevin O'Leary on the Lang, O'Leary Report on CBC. And why would they want to. As you've said the same can be said about the players now rich beyond belief. I cannot for the life of me believe that unlike the NFL you can't fire a non performing player( think Wade Redding ) in real life if a guy doesn't do his job you tell him to get on his bike. Owners pay huge sums to buy a franchise, guarantee the payroll (some times needing to go into debt or declare bankruptcy ) On the other hand I can't believe they don't have a better revenue sharing aspect.

[Potatoe1]

Fair enough, but the same should be said about the owners.
That people often make comparisons to regular business owners is a joke.

I agree.

Both sides have every right to negotiate the best deal they can.

It's very rich people arguing over who should get richer.

Neither side deserves any sympathy or any fan support. The discussions should be about the details of any specific offer, not who's right and who's wrong or who's more deserving.

[Topper]

This fight is all about power, control ...

and the guys that write the cheques have it and those who cash the cheques don't.

[ClamRussel]

This fight is all about power, control ...

and the guys that write the cheques have it and those who cash the cheques don't.

Shea Weber begs to differ.

The battle over power isn't just between players and owners, lets not kid ourselves. Its primarily between the have & have-not owners. Does anyone really think New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Vancouver etc want revenue sharing and a salary cap?

[okcanuck]

Fair enough, but the same should be said about the owners.
That people often make comparisons to regular business owners is a joke.

I agree.

Both sides have every right to negotiate the best deal they can.

It's very rich people arguing over who should get richer.

Neither side deserves any sympathy or any fan support. The discussions should be about the details of any specific offer, not who's right and who's wrong or who's more deserving.

Exactly Pot, why should we as fans give a rats ass about who wins this squabble among millionaires,all we want is to watch the best sport in the world with the best players in the world competing for the oldest sport trophy in the world. Its time as fans to grab control of this situation and tell these morons to settle and get on with hockey.

I honestly think that our power with social media can actually make a difference. Time to tell assholes like Bettman and Feur to listen to the fans.

[rats19]

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Do something about it cuz talk is cheap