NHL Is Back, But My Passion Is Not

It is a sad state of affairs when one realizes that the NHL is back and I am actually a little upset about it. In the beginning it was all about when are they coming back to drop the puck. Now, it is more 'I wish they would have scrapped the season'. The damage has been done to a whole lot of life long NHL fans. I was hoping that the season would be lost to punish both the owners and the players. The only plus that is coming from this is that the fringe and peripheral people are able to get their jobs back and start working games. The workers at the arena's, the concessions the parking people and all of the local establishments that have taken a hit on game days where fans become patrons and come in for the games. The last lockout I understand, there were things that needed to be fixed...i just wish they would have fixed it right the first time 6 years ago so we could have avoided all this mess.

I am at the point right now that I am more interested in Woman's Soccer then I am in the NHL. To anyone who knows anything about anything that is an alarming statement!

Maybe when the games actually begin I will slowly come around again. Maybe it will be sooner then even I may think. But then again maybe not. I know for one thing, I will not be rushing out to buy tickets to any games. There has not been any mention to this point that the teams will be offering deals but even so, it seems like it is a hollow gesture.

I am more concerned about baseball at this point then hockey. That does not bode well for any hockey pools. My interest level, knowledge of players and what they have been doing, who is playing where and in general what is going on. Once I think about it a little, I am unsure about a lot the late movement and signings as well there are players with teams that I completely forgot about being moved. A sad thing too is that there are a lot of off ice transactions of players that need to be signed and likely trades to be made and at any other time would be super exciting but it has been tarnished by this lockout.
They have ruined a lot of fun for the fans from not just watching the games to just following the roster moves and hot stove talk that come from the league being up and running. The game might be back but it may be a long road back. I wish that people would make it hard on the teams and league before just forgiving and forgetting.

Sadly, in Canada I suspect that fans will fold like a cheap suit and come back like sheep but it would be nice to have them hurt a bit and show that they have done some real damage to a game that was just starting to gain some traction. With the Kings winning the Stanley Cup last year in a major US market could have been huge but the league has robbed the US and the Kings fans of celebrating that championship.

It should be interesting to see what the reaction is the first few weeks of the season.

Out Of Sight - Out Of Mind

The puck is supposed to drop but all the buildings in the NHL are dark, empty and cavernous. There are no sounds of sharp skates cutting through a fresh sheet of glass-like ice, no chimes of a rubber puck hitting a goal post making the sound of metal on metal, and no taps of sticks clapping together as they battle along the boards.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. That is not always the case and when that absence is in reference to professional sports the issue is even more magnified.

The NHL owners have locked out its players and now it has become a showdown between Billionaires and Millionaires and how to divide up Billions in revenue. Seems like it should not be a difficult thing to do. They are not trying to change a system or make any crazy changes to the existing system it is just terminology and what pool of money should be included in the percentage breakdown. It is frustrating for the players but probably even more so for the fans who are the real victims who not only do not have a true voice and are the ones that truly suffer. It is always the most difficult on the children when mommy and daddy fight.

The thing that is the most interesting, on a personal level is the lack of interest that is felt. With the NFL in full swing, NCAA football and Baseball playoffs currently throwing 4 games in a day, missing hockey is far down the list of interest.  Even when baseball winds down after the World Series there is always junior hockey . With Landsdown Park is under construction and the 67's playing at Scotiabank Place for the next few seasons we can go to the OHL games and if need be since it is an NHL venue, pretend that it is an NHL game.

It is a little surprising that, as an NHL fan that the impact and possibility of a lost season is not having the same impact as it did during the last work stoppage. This is probably not a good thing. If a longtime hardcore fan is showing disinterest how is the NHL going to overcome the same feelings from casual or less passionate fans? This is a very dangerous game of cat and mouse they are playing. The less that people are caring as this whole things plays out the less that are likely to come back when they finally come to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. When all is said and done this is still a gate driven league and does not have huge TV deals like the other big sports. If people are luke warm when play resumes, ticket sales could drop and the few teams that are propping up the MANY struggling US teams may not have as much to share. If that happens it stands to reason that the struggling teams will spiral even further down and require even that much more help. If the pie gets smaller the allocation to the teams and players gets smaller teams could be in jeopardy and if that happens the number of players jobs would also fall and that would be a major blow to the League. Just remember baseball is America's Pastime and it was devastated by their lost time in 1994 and it took a long time to bounce back. The NHL got lucky their last lost season and fans came back in record numbers, even growing in some markets. It is playing with fire that the same will hold true again this time around.

Dead Lock'd

NHL and Media Coverage should both be under a media blackout

As of September 15th at 11:59pm the NHL owners will lock out its players and "negotiations" will continue until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (from here on known as the CBA) is finalized. The NHL has not had a good record of labour peace in the entire Gary Bettman era and that trend seems to be continuing. This time around it is not a fundamental change line last time. It more or less is the owners and players deciding on how best to divide a lot of money. It is too bad when millionaires and billionaires fight because the only people that loose are the fans of the game and the people who are employed in the organizations and at the arenas that essentially locked out as well.
The league has placed these artificial deadlines like September 15th in hopes to make it appear that there is something to loose right away. Training camp wouldn't plan to start until the 21st so what is the rush. What other organization or business would lock out its workers the minute a deal expires. Why not have training camp and continue to negotiate? Why not make an effort in good faith to get the players feel like they are a part of the grand plan and the owners are not trying to strong arm them. That also gives a good actual deadline to try and hammer out a deal. It doesn't hurt to give the players a feel for the ice and the game they love to play. By that point the players will be closer to missing the first paycheck and might encourage some more serious talks.

It seems like all these meaningless deadlines will come and go until there is something tangible to loose...paychecks, gate revenue and/or the Winter Classic game between the Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

It is interesting that the owners voted 100% to lock out the players because that way money is being shared. Just in the last few days 100's of million dollar contracts have been given out by these owners to players before the old deal expires. This CBA is essentially to protect the owners from themselves. If things were so bad why did the Wild spend nearly $100M for 2 players yet claim that they have a problem with the distribution of money? Bell/Rogers JUST took over MLSE as owners of the Leafs. How can they be in a position to vote for or against any proposed deal? Why when both own sports channels with hockey rights think it is either of their interest to not have hockey? They have programming hours to fill and no hockey will leave a big hole. Comcast (Ed Snider from the Philly Flyers) are in a joint venture with NBC who owns the NHL rights in the US. They have launched NBC Sports to compete with the CBS Sports, Fox Sports and the Mother Ship aka. ESPN. Hockey and hockey programming was and is key to the potential growth and viability of this new sports venture in an already saturated sports network landscape. How can this be good for them? I don't think it is or will be.

If any of these Media parties want to get hockey rolling then they should direct all of their sports channels to not report a single thing on the NHL or the lockout until there is an announcement from the league saying that a deal has been struck. No updates, no rumours of talks no mention of back room discussions nothing on Sportsnet Connected, Nothing on Sportscenter. Do not mention it or anything about it. Out of sight, out of mind then maybe there will be discussion in the board rooms and the two sides trying to WIN a PR war instead of negotiating a long term labour deal. The fans would not have to hear updates of items that are neither news or news worthy. Rumours and speculation would not exist and there would be a lot less bitter fans more willing to support the league when they do come back because they won't have a bitter taste in their mouths from having to listen to useless uninformative crap every day and night until a resolution is reached. Just like a judge who puts a media ban on a court case the same should happen in the case of this lockout...a media blackout may be the most productive thing to get this whole circus put to rest.

Time for the madness to stop...before it even starts. Lets only talk about on ice issues and rosters and not topics of discussions driven by accountants and the editors at financial magazines like Forbes.