Dear NHL and Players,
Today the players have been locked out, and by extension so
have the fans of the game and those that work the arenas. I like many others
find this unacceptable. Just eight years ago I understood … the game had
problems and needed to be fixed. We lost an entire year of hockey to “fix” the
game and the league got all they wanted. A hard salary cap and a major
reduction in all players’ salaries were the highlights of this. Well here we are less than a decade later
with another lockout because what you wanted fixed nothing. The cap has
sky-rocketed as have salaries and while the rich get richer the poor are poor.
However the league continues to have record revenues and be “stronger
than ever”. Not a season has gone by where we haven’t heard that. The game did
come back stronger than ever and fan bases have grown, however by failing to
fix things the first time and choosing to lockout players again instead of
working on things while games were played you are going to forever damage this
game. Yes, hardcore fans such as myself will be back but the damage will be
felt and fans will be lost forever. You can’t have two lockouts in a decade and
not get that.
You the owners are choosing to lockout the players while
they would be willing to play while a deal was worked out. The fans certainly
would have attended and watched games and the employees of the arenas and
broadcast teams certainly wouldn’t have voted to not work. That is completely
on the owners.
I also blame the owners for the current CBA which “doesn’t
work”. You locked out the players last time and got what you wanted. However
you failed by not addressing things as you should have, revenue sharing and
allowing players share to grow as it has leading to where we are today. That
too is on you. It appears that is what you want to do again, instead of
addressing the issues as a whole you want to make minor changes and “fix”
things by again forcing a major rollback in salaries and player’s shares. How
about working with the players to find a number in the middle while ALSO having
those rich teams help the poor teams more?
The owners are also to blame for contracts getting to where
they are. Yes, I understand that you have to field a competitive team and part
of that is getting in the players to make your team competitive and the market
requires you to put forth your best offer to get those players, however I don’t
get how you can say the system is broke when you’re handing out these
contracts. You complain about contracts circumventing the cap with low money
years on the ends of deals in which players may not play. You complain about the
outrageous length of many contracts. You complain about the huge dollars being
paid out. Again, YOU THE OWNERS gave out these contracts under a CBA you cost
the fans and players a year in getting. $1.5 Billion, yes billion, in contracts
given out since July 1st this year knowing that the CBA was “broke”
and expiring? Over $200 million just since last Saturday, over $160m on that in
the last two days, on contracts knowing you’re a week from the expiration and
no deal was apparent? How can you look at the fans or the players and say “the
system is broke” and “we can’t give these contracts”. Even after you make a
proposal you come out as owners the next day and give contracts that would
break even that proposal. So we have a broken system that owners still rush to
sign players under. Can’t be that broken, huh?
But I don’t blame just the owners. Players aren’t hurting
for money either and can budge some. They’ll still make more than most of us
will see in our lifetimes by doing something many of us pay to do. I don’t
expect them to move as much as the league thinks they should and the owners
should be responsible for the contracts they have handed out in full … but they
could budge on their share and contracts moving forward while the league owners
HELP EACH OTHER, something they seem reluctant to do. I also blame both sides
because it was many, many months ago that we knew the CBA would expire. Did the
two sides meet though? NO! Instead we sit around hearing how there is “plenty
of time to get a deal done” all the while neither side knowing what the other
side would be asking for. Instead of at least having initial talks to determine
where the sides sat you didn’t even speak for months. Now we see the sides are
miles apart much too late and the fans and employees are going to lose out once
again. Instead of starting talks early and gauging where sides stood and having
a shot at getting things worked out in time for a season instead you wait,
realize that you’re far apart, and lose at least part of the season. This to me
is the worst part. It shows neither side cared enough about the coming season
to start talks early enough to try to bridge gaps. Unacceptable!
Now us fans don’t have a lot of pull in this even though we
are where the money comes from. We don’t have a voice in the talks and no
amount of emails, letters, and petitions will influence the owners or players
in this. We fans and employees are the true losers but the ones without a
voice. I will speak up though. I am very passionate about hockey so I’ll be the
first to admit I’ll return to watching and cheering my team when the sport
returns, however even with a hardcore fan like me you are going to lose out.
First I am going to un-follow the NHL on Twitter and un-like on Facebook. That
is just the beginning though. If we lose any time this season I will not attend
a single game the rest of the season or next season if the lockout lasts this
entire year. Instead I will attend other leagues and support them. I also will
not be subscribing to Center Ice or the sort. I’ll watch on my regular cable,
but I’m not paying the NHL to watch games. I also will not be visiting the team
stores, NHL Shop, or any of the like. I will not be spending a dime on NHL
merchandise. That will extend to all sponsors of the NHL as well. Anywhere I
can I will choose another vendor to get what I need.
We may not have much of a voice but I for one am mad as hell
and am going to voice it. It is completely unacceptable to be where we are
AGAIN. I’m as passionate about the sport and my team as it gets and you have
driven me away. This lockout was avoidable and unnecessary and it will do
serious harm to the NHL and I won’t stand for it and I encourage other mad but
passionate fans to follow this lead!
Signed a very mad and passionate fan,
Steve Ballard
