When 12:01 a.m. came and went on the morning of September 16, there was no last-minute effort, no banding together to make anything count… no excitement whatsoever. Instead, the National Hockey League entered their third lockout since 1994 as quietly as possible. Whether you’re on the side of Commissioner Gary Bettman and the owners or union boss Donald Fehr and the players, this is something that could have been easily avoided and now, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone with enough optimism to believe that there will even be NHL hockey this coming season.
When the lockout of 2004-05 ultimately canceled the season, one of the biggest issues was to put a salary cap in place. For what seemed like an eternity, the NHL’s players association and its members were vehement against a salary cap, with a number of players making it crystal clear that they would never play in a league with one — yet, over time, they agreed to have a cap put in place. When all the smoke cleared, fans were infuriated wondering why an entire season had to have been lost. Even just six months ago, I was optimistic that the league and its players would agree on a new collective bargaining agreement well before the CBA’s expiration date. Yet, here we are like we were eight years earlier with very little hope that anything will be made of the coming season.
Of all the revenue generated by the National Hockey League (a record $3.3 billion), the players made 57% of that. While I can sympathize that the owners would not want their employees making more than they do, I cannot understand why the two sides just can’t agree on a 50/50 share or at least a slim 51/49 share with the slight advantage going to the owners. When the National Football League agreed on a new CBA last year, the deal included a 47% share for the players, which is what the Bettman and the owners want in the NHL’s new CBA. I understand the NHL, as successful as it was last season from a financial standpoint, isn’t quite as successful or even as popular as the NFL. Yet, the NFL has had a hard salary cap in place for well over a decade yet the players are still making more than enough loot, especially the higher-profile players who receive more money for various endorsement deals. When the National Basketball Association agreed on a new CBA last December, they agreed to a 50/50 share and so far, so good.
I understand that it is difficult to judge the entire landscape of both leagues after just one year but despite a shaky economy in the United States, both the NFL and NBA are so strong that it feels like they never missed a beat. I truly wish I could say the same thing about the NHL, even after they exceeded $3 billion in profit last year.
I have always had my reservations about Gary Bettman. Since day one, I have never had much of an opinion of him. He is not a hockey fan and he does not feel like he owes the fans anything. It’s almost unfathomable to think that he still has a job after three lockouts but as long as he’s making money, the owners won’t change a thing as far as who their leader is. While the players can be viewed as victims for being locked out by the owners, I can’t easily sympathize with them. After running around like proverbial chickens with their heads cut off since the previous lockout, the NHLPA brought in Donald Fehr in 2010 as their new union leader. Fehr was famously (or infamously) known for helping to cancel the 1994 Major League Baseball season by vehemently refusing a salary cap. While MLB players kissed the floor Fehr walked on as it meant bigger paydays for them, teams like the Montreal Expos, who were en route to their greatest season in ’94 before being interrupted by the work stoppage, never recovered and ultimately relocated to Washington, D.C. In addition, hundreds of thousands of fans, 18 years later, have ceased to return to support the game they once so unconditionally loved.
Eight years ago, the general consensus favoured the owners as fans just wanted the players to end their greedy ways and accept the salary cap. This time, it’s Bettman and the owners getting much of the brunt from infuriated fans just wanting to see their favourite teams and players. While fans of all seven Canadians teams are aching for the return of hockey, fan bases for a number of the US-based teams are itching for a new season of hockey for various reasons. Fans in New York are hoping their Rangers can make that extra step towards the Stanley Cup with the addition of Rick Nash, fans in Minnesota are eagerly awaiting their two biggest off-season acquisitions: Zach Parise and Ryan Suter while long-suffering fans in Los Angeles are waiting to see their Kings finally raise their Stanley Cup championship banner.
There are certainly enough storylines to go around to last us an entire season but first, we have to sit and wait that the league and its players association can check their respective egos at the door and hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement. At this point, fans can only hope that a meeting between the two sides can last longer than 20 minutes.
For the time being, I am forcing myself to watch the 2004 film “Miracle” which is the true story of the United States men’s hockey team shocking the world by defeating the powerful Soviet Union. While I do love the movie, there’s a significant ulterior motive to this. As skeptical as I am (as well as a plethora of fans) about the prospect of NHL hockey this season, watching “Miracle” will only prove that crazier things have indeed happened.
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Ryan Cowley is a writer at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter @RyanACowley.
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