Bettman on 1130 WDFN Detroit

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Motown Beatdown

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Heard rumbling from media about players talking about new offer

Door is open, if the players have an offer, give it to us. We haven't talked about what numbers we're (owners) are looking at.

It's not about canceling a season, it's about making a deal. He says he's like to have a press conference announcing a deal been reached. (he said nothing about a season)

Said again the door is open.

Says Item number 7 (my words not his, typing as he talks) is a big reason why there wasn't a deal made.

Union wont discuss what hockey revenue would be. Because they wont look at the books.

Praises the Illitchs on how they run the team and how they ran their team isn't part of the NHL problems because they played by the rules.

Says it's not about bring down the large revenue teams down to the small markets but the problem is 20 teams are losing money.

His belief on revenue sharing is to create a fairly healthy league then use revenue sharing to help the teams they need it.

Goal was not, is not to break the union. Didn't want a stoppage but it happened.

They are planning for next season and will look at all option. Replacement players are an option but they haven't look at that yet.

Not thinking about a deadline to declare an impasse.

Salary caps acts as magnets. Says could bring teams who want to say at 30 million but the cap could bring them up to 36 million.

Has a whole bunch of ideas for changing the rules. Product on the ice is an issue but not as much as the media makes out. It can be better though. And owes it to the fans.

Asked if he could call Goodenow as a favor (from radio host) Gary said they need a little cooling off.



I might have missed a little bit cause i am at work and doing some work. Usually Mlive.com will have an WDFN interview online later that day.
 

Crows*

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I'm starting to want a deal now but no season this year. I just want to look forward to the next year. It would be a golden opportunity for them to build up the hype, new rules and get the teams set.
 

GoM

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Crows said:
I'm starting to want a deal now but no season this year. I just want to look forward to the next year. It would be a golden opportunity for them to build up the hype, new rules and get the teams set.

Exactly..get everything set up and perfected and marketed for next year.
 

nomorekids

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Feb 28, 2003
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Steve L said:
This season is toast, I want them to concentrate for a full season next year with a draft preceding it.


Agreed. A 25 game season is ridiculous. Let's get some excitement going with a draft this summer...an exciting offseason that will see a lot of trades..and let's get fired up for preseason in September.
 

Johnny Confident

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nomorekids said:
Agreed. A 25 game season is ridiculous. Let's get some excitement going with a draft this summer...an exciting offseason that will see a lot of trades..and let's get fired up for preseason in September.

:handclap:
 

Jaded-Fan

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Bettman sounds pretty reasonable to me. And glad that he brought up Item 7 as the deal breaker. That said, I can not see how an offer even today could save the season. We are down to what, 20 games, even if a deal were had tonight?
 

417

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Jaded-Fan said:
Bettman sounds pretty reasonable to me. And glad that he brought up Item 7 as the deal breaker. That said, I can not see how an offer even today could save the season. We are down to what, 20 games, even if a deal were had tonight?

How can we go from a 28 game schedule yesterday, to a 20 game schedule today?

I'm not saying it's going to happen, it's more than unlikely, but if they wanted to revive the season, they can still get in that 28 game schedule
 

Flyers Hockey

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If by some miracle they settle this by the weekend you had better believe they will have some kind of season.
 

ResidentAlien*

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shouldnt this all be in the "Optimism repository" thread? j/k

I would love to see hockey this year, i would rather see my team play 20+ games and lose everyone of them then to see this season being cancelled. However, I probably think getting it done quickly(the deal) and concentrating on next year would be the best...but hey..if you are all on this roller coaster..some get me a ticket! :eek:
 

SuperNintendoChalmrs

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They seem to be following my plan.....LOL

A 28 game season would have not really been a waste of time, but how are they going to truly iron out an agreement with the sands in the hourglass about to run out.

For weeks I have said that they need to get the financial house in order.....change and improve the on-ice product.....get ready for the June draft and a new-looking league in September of 2005.

This last second BS of trying to throw a deal together is useless. Leave that to a fantasy football league.
 

CGG

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JWI19 said:
Says Item number 7 (my words not his, typing as he talks) is a big reason why there wasn't a deal made.

The owners were obviously willing to take a risk that revenues wouldn't plummet when they took linkage off the table. I agree #7 is too friendly to the players, but under the owner's proposal, it's a fixed $42.5 cap for all six seasons. If revenues all of a sudden double around year 3 (i.e. go up to $4 billion - hey, who knows, it could happen) then doesn't seem right that the cap should be stuck at $42.5 billion. Maybe they should alter this #7 clause so that it only kicks in when revenue is back above $2.1 billion.
 

s7ark

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nomorekids said:
Agreed. A 25 game season is ridiculous. Let's get some excitement going with a draft this summer...an exciting offseason that will see a lot of trades..and let's get fired up for preseason in September.


Well the league has to do something to bring the fans back and quick. If they sign a deal tonight and there is no season when there would have been one only yesterday I would be angry.

If not a partial season, maybe cheap games in a kind of tournament for the fans to come back and see the game in it's purest form? Rule changes to use small pads for the goalies and wooden sticks for the players. Lots of skating and passing. That would be a great way to try out potential new rules for next season. They could call it a gift to show the fans they really do mean to improve the on ice product.

How about something like that?
 

Flyers Hockey

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I repeat. If they make a deal by the weekend they will throw something together. It won't be pretty, but it will be something.
 

Captain Conservative

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Steve L said:
This season is toast, I want them to concentrate for a full season next year with a draft preceding it.


I know that a season this year is extremely unlikely, what with all the details that would have to be hammered out to actually have a deal, and the training camps, and such. Thats why I said "or even if a deal is reached soon".
 
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kerrly

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gc2005 said:
The owners were obviously willing to take a risk that revenues wouldn't plummet when they took linkage off the table. I agree #7 is too friendly to the players, but under the owner's proposal, it's a fixed $42.5 cap for all six seasons. If revenues all of a sudden double around year 3 (i.e. go up to $4 billion - hey, who knows, it could happen) then doesn't seem right that the cap should be stuck at $42.5 billion. Maybe they should alter this #7 clause so that it only kicks in when revenue is back above $2.1 billion.

If they want no linkage, they should get no linkage. The #7 clause was an absolute joke, and even if it only did go up after the $2.1B level was reached again, I still don't think its fair.
 

Egil

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If the players want the cap to go up if revenues increase, then they better believe the cap will go down if revenues fall. You either index the cap, UP OR DOWN, or you don't index it.

I have a term for this, and its the "Alexi Yashin" school of contracts. You sign a long term deal so that if you go in the crapper, your guaranteed the money. But when you outperform your deal, you then try to jetison the old deal, and get paid what your worth. He wants the cake of a long term deal, yet he wants to eat the short term rewards if he plays well.
 

NJD Jester

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417 TO MTL said:
How can we go from a 28 game schedule yesterday, to a 20 game schedule today?

I'm not saying it's going to happen, it's more than unlikely, but if they wanted to revive the season, they can still get in that 28 game schedule

OK, let's try this again:

The commissioner of the National Hockey League said yesterday that the 2004-05 season had to be canceled because there wasn't a deal done and because there wasn't enough time left for a legitimate season.

If there was a deal struck today, how the hell could there be a hockey season? The NHL would be crucified for attempting a season it already claimed would be illegitimate.
 

Greschner4

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Flyers Hockey said:
If by some miracle they settle this by the weekend you had better believe they will have some kind of season.

Agreed that they have until the weekend to get in the season they had planned as of Tuesday night.
 

CaptainShark

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Sep 25, 2004
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NJD Jester said:
OK, let's try this again:

The commissioner of the National Hockey League said yesterday that the 2004-05 season had to be canceled because there wasn't a deal done and because there wasn't enough time left for a legitimate season.

If there was a deal struck today, how the hell could there be a hockey season? The NHL would be crucified for attempting a season it already claimed would be illegitimate.

If you are planing a 28-game-season and you cancel it and 4 days after that drop-dead-date you get a chance to sign a deal and get a season underway (which then would go on 1 week longer than planned) and maybe prevent further damage to the sport (and that - right or wrong - is the way the owners see it), than you definitly can go for it... those 4 days won´t hurt. And right now, it´s not about credibility or things like that, I think both sides start to realize, that it´s about the game itsself right now and about how much it suffers!
 
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