swflyers8*
Guest
ESPN NHL
TF: Why not accept a luxury tax, if it's so punitive as to act like a salary cap?
Bettman: No one knows how well a luxury tax will or won't work. It's experimental. It's unpredictable. We don't have the luxury of going any further with a system that doesn't work. Two, it doesn't necessarily eliminate the disparities that make teams more competitive, or give us the opportunity to have our product stronger across 30 markets. Three, it doesn't deal with the ripple effect. If one team pays a player a certain level, another team, even if his team doesn't want to be a luxury tax payer, is going to hear a player say, "I want to be the same." The comparability issue is not addressed. I don't believe luxury taxes work. That's why I hope when the union comes back with its proposal, it moves to a new venue in terms of its system and comes to one that will work, and work in the right way. See, nobody has ever said in a meaningful way what's wrong with a partnership, other than they ideologically don't like it. A partnership works for everybody and is fair for everybody.
TF: Why not accept a luxury tax, if it's so punitive as to act like a salary cap?
Bettman: No one knows how well a luxury tax will or won't work. It's experimental. It's unpredictable. We don't have the luxury of going any further with a system that doesn't work. Two, it doesn't necessarily eliminate the disparities that make teams more competitive, or give us the opportunity to have our product stronger across 30 markets. Three, it doesn't deal with the ripple effect. If one team pays a player a certain level, another team, even if his team doesn't want to be a luxury tax payer, is going to hear a player say, "I want to be the same." The comparability issue is not addressed. I don't believe luxury taxes work. That's why I hope when the union comes back with its proposal, it moves to a new venue in terms of its system and comes to one that will work, and work in the right way. See, nobody has ever said in a meaningful way what's wrong with a partnership, other than they ideologically don't like it. A partnership works for everybody and is fair for everybody.