This is another tough question. There are many different elements to
this situation, starting with the root of the association. First, is the
PA a Union or an Association? Is there a difference? I guess it depends
on the definition and/or translation:Association - group of people who have a common interest, but who pretty much do nothing.Trade Union - an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer.Ok,
as for the NHL players, maybe it's both. I do find it difficult to
comprehend how members of either a union or an assoiciation (whatever
you want to call it) can act and talk in one way to make their point
(solidarity forever) and then talk and act in another way (I have to
play) when the result is negative on their "brothers" every way you look
at it. Now that the lock out is in full force, it didn't take long for
the NHL's elite players to jump a plane for Europe and Russia to continue playing
and getting paid while their brothers at home sit,...
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Was it just me or did Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly just clear up why we are in another lock out after his comments on the Bob McCown show? Just like since day one of the NHL, the owners clearly want the player's MONEY. Bob and co-host Steven Brunt asked a few tough questions and Daly's facial expressions and eyes told the real story. IMHO, the real problem we have, is with a league run by lawyers that have never laced up a pair of skates, never mind had their teeth knocked out and today that became quite obvious...THEY DON'T GET IT! Mr. Daly wanted to blame their "economic struggles" on a few, very mis-guided elements, such as: players taking too much of the HRR, the Canadian dollar, the weak world economy and owners paying out too much in salary. Both McCown and Brunt called BS!
Bob dove right in charging Daly that teams in non-hockey markets with poor management was the real reason for losses in Florida, Arizona, Nashville, Dallas and likely other places. Daly refused to...
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The lock out has begun. It is now time to step up the execution of this and other petitions. Thank you for taking the time to sign and show your passion and commitment to our game. Without us there is no NHL or PA. We are attempting to get ONE MILLION signatures on our petition alone. We will be starting with an email campaign to all our friends, family and co-workers to pass on to their contacts and we strongly request all the supporters of this petition to pass on to their network.
This time fans are serious in their revolt against the greedy owners, their Commissioner and their players. We came back like sheep after the 2004-05 missed season as, I'm sure, most ardent hockey fans thought we had the system corrected when the owners got their way with "cost certainty", a salary roll back and a hard cap. We have all seen how the owners (and their GM's) have done everything in their power to circumvent the system and destroy the "spirit" of the last CBA, by signing ridiculous...
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Only hours to go before the darkness sets in around the NHL. The past few days have seen a lot of media coverage attempting to make sense of all this madness. Fans are at their exhaustion level of what will solve this silly impasse by both sides. Some are calling for binding arbitration (we know Gary doesn't like arbitration) to bring the sides to some rational behavior, some are resigned to accept the season will not start any time soon, but one journalist has made some very insightful suggestions that could be the answer, if only the Bettman and Fehr would consider outside help. Sadly, the egos at play think they are the only answer. (Hmmm, a midget basketball guy and a career baseball guy feel they know more than the real hockey minds). Shame on them.
Michael Grange, a journalist for the Globe & Mail and a regular guest on Sportsnet, has what I think, is a very good 5 point plan...very simple. (ok, I admit I may like it because it shares some of our ideas like 50/50 HRR...
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What else can be done with only five business days left before Gary and the NHL owners shut the league down? Training camps start the following weekend so maybe we are really ten days (but don't tell the negotiators) from a shut down. It appears the fans are more knowledgeable and educated (as are the players) compared to the 2004/05 stoppage. We lost that season because the players would "never" accept a salary cap. Now, it is mainly about splitting the pie and maybe re-defining the Hockey Related Revenues (HRR). Back then, the players were less united and maybe not as well led or informed by their ED, Mr. Goodenow. Likely, with all the social media today, the players are in much better communications with their association. Still, the result may be the same...a lost season, or at least partial.
Bob McKenzie of TSN posted an excellent article on their website to explain the current status and his ideas for a resolution. Have a read:...
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We often hear the NHL CBA is Billionaires fighting Millionaires over the fans money. I, for one, never really paid much attention to who these Billionaires are and how they got so wealthy. I'm a business man and I am all for people building their security, but these stinking rich hockey owners have taken wealth to incredible levels and use their sports teams to make more off poorly paid workers (the stadium and office staff not the players) and gullible fans like us. Gary Bettman and his band of merry owners play us for fools as well. He stuck his foot in his mouth last week when he said publicly he knows the fans will come back after another lock out. No discussion to avoid a lock out...just sign what we offer by September 15th or else. In the coming weeks, this blog will list all these "elitists" along with their net worth and the businesses they own or control. You will see why they care not to worry about a hockey-less season - they have so much money coming in they don't care...
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Sept. 1/12 ~ What's the gap? The owner's last proposal called for a 46% player share of the 3.3 billion pie of OUR money. The PA says they can come down for three years but after that, the league should have corrected their mistakes and the players want their previous level of 57% returned going forward. However, neither want to talk about if for a while. The suits say "call us back" and the jocks say "we are still in NY, so anytime you're ready". How foolish both sides are at the risk of taking another season away from the "greatest fans (puppets) in the world"...according to the Commish. Fourteen days from the league-imposed lock out and both sides can't find a reason to continue negotiations. From all I hear, fans are very angry this time and a huge percentage are so frustrated they are threatening everything from boycotting the game for ever to vowing to cancel their cable packages and tickets. I hope fans everywhere do what they can to send a strong message to both sides that a...
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Aug 30/12 ~ As expected, the NHLPA needed more time to peruse through the "sheep's clothing" to understand the league's latest re-vised proposal (#2 for them). As mentioned here yesterday, it seemed to good to be true that Gary and his owners were willing to raise Hockey Related Revenue (HRR) splits to basically 50/50 over a six year term AND with NO player salary roll-backs...oh, but wait..."did I mention we want to change the language and what we now consider HRR"? His calculations, admittedly, are closer to 46% for the players with his new definition. However the wolf dresses it up, he still wants the players to take much less than 50%. He would also prefer the players have a larger escrow hold back than a roll-back...sorry, it is the same thing.
Sadly, the league feels they need to go right back to the start - recreating a healthy league - after dismissing the whole reason we lost the 2004-05 season...so the NHL could get "cost certainty" and establish (what everyone finally...
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Aug. 29/12 ~ The NHL met Wednesday with the NHLPA to present a counter proposal that is really a more realistic version of their initial offer. Few details have been leaked so far but it appears there has been a willingness to come back with a HRR split that is closer to what our FAN CBA calls for.
In this latest offer, the league says they have made a "a proposal that we believe is significant and had meaningful movement," said Bettman. "It was also designed to address issues that they've raised with us and to address the proposal they last made to us in terms of structure and format."
It sounds like there was no request of player salary roll backs but excess salaries that are above the new cap, proposed to climb from $58 million in 2012-13 to approximately $71 million in 2017-18, the last season of the contract (six years), would go into escrow. Right now, only ten clubs are below that $58 Million. Obviously, both sides still need to figure out a way to make that scenario...
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