Not that the lockout ever wasn’t, but the situation just got a whole lot more serious. The owners came up (or down depending on how you look at it) to a 50/50 deal, allowing for a full 82 games if signed by October 25th, to allow a November 2nd start. Even after a group-wide agreement within NHLPA, that the owners’ new proposal was a step up and a sign of good progress being made, the players association felt the need to counter offer with three new deals. Not only did the owners reject all three new proposals, Bettman went on the record to say the new proposals were a step backward, disappointing, and that he no longer thinks he and Donald Fehr are speaking the same language (in terms of the lockout, of course). All that being said, Bettman still believes a full 82 game season is possible, but action needs to be taken and an agreement needs to be reached quickly.
At this point, we as fans, have to realize that blame for this lockout should be spread around equally. Each side has an agenda they’re trying to achieve and it looks as though, we may have just seen or are very close to, the threshold of the owners. The players responded with a 50/50 proposal as well, the major stipulation being that all current contracts be honored in the new CBA. I don’t know the breakdown and I don’t know all the current player salaries to be able to see what the difference of 50/50 truly is and 50/50 plus differences previously subtracted out of current contracts, added back into the calculations, then subtracted from the owners, and added to the players. What I can say is, spelling it out the way I just did in the previous sentence, does not sound like 50/50 result. If I had to ballpark it with a guesstimation, i’d say its probably 46/54 give or take 1 or 2 percent, in favor of the players.
With the math used by the owners to reach the 50/50 agreement, there are things to consider now that they have shot down the last set of proposals as quickly as they did. The owners are owners because they’re businessmen and are good at making money. To say that this entire situation to the owners is all about money, is the biggest Captain Obvious statement that can be made about the lockout. Now it appears that a piece of information may have surfaced through implication. The owners have been working on options for the new CBA for over a year. To think they didn’t have a projected goal as well as an absolute floor that they are willing to give into, would be naive on our part. If a 50/50 split is their floor, with no wiggle room to give anything additional, it was probably predetermined long ago AND calculated into the offers and signings being made before the end of the last CBA. They easily could be counting on getting at least a 7% break (since the players would be losing 7% to get down to 50%), and for example, if they signed someone for $100,000, the owners could be banking on that $100,000 really being AT MOST $93,000. Are you getting the math? This could potentially have been a predetermined percentage the owners knew they would not fall below, so that they knew they would be able to afford the contracts they were giving out. Its a solid business tactic, but probably doesn’t demonstrate the most tact or care for the sport they’re so heavily invested in.
And the players…. The players have finally started coming out and talking about the fact that this IS NOT about just playing and IS VERY MUCH SO about how much money they’re making. The PR stunts with the videos and fan outreach, was pretty much a lie, in hopes to use the fans as leverage against the owners. That’s the player first count of guilt and wasting time. The owners know this isn’t a popularity contest. Fans, don’t take this personally… but you don’t make a lick of difference when it comes to their calculations. The second charge of guilt for time wasting on behalf of the players, is the push for no cap. Not only was that futile to begin with, its irresponsible to push for in any respect because it could easily lead to a fast collapse of smaller hockey markets. That could include a market like Pittsburgh. These last three proposals could also qualify as another guilt charge of time wasting against the players. I can understand not wanting to lose 7% in a single contract, but at what point is knowing you’re going to lose percentages regardless, losing progress momentum, and losing face with the fans just to leverage for 2 or 3%, worth losing an entire season? I can’t make any sense of that.
In the end, we as fans, need a hero. We need a side to sacrifice and show that they want to have a season, and they want to give the fans a season. To me, this doesn’t NEED to be, but SHOULD be the players. Regardless of whether they’re in an elite hockey town or a struggling one, the players will absolutely make the money they’re guaranteed in their contract. If 18 teams last season lost money, the owners are really the ones who take all the risk, while the players made every dime they were promised. They aren’t guaranteed a contract amount. They make the difference of what comes in after they’re done paying everyone else out. I’m not trying to say that the owners are victims. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Only that the players have a guaranteed income and the owners do not. If the players step up and sign the owners proposal, they will be the heroes, look like the bigger men, and ultimately win the PR battle with the fans. Lets see it, players. End this lockout. Get on the ice.
