Jaded-Fan said:
You do not get it. Apparently, based on the NHL not going to $45 million, they are more fearful of getting an offer with a $45 million Cap then they are of losing $70 million from ESPN. They just must not have the money. In any event, how much money is that? Just over $2 million a team? Is that worth being saddled with a deal that will kill you for six years? If they come back does anyone doubt that they will get some telelvision deal? So, if it is only $35 million even the teams have lost a bit over $1 million each. Well worth it not to cave don't you think? That ESPN deal is less of a hammer over the owners than the player's must have thought it was. They should have thanked every god in the pantheon that the owners brought back that wednesday offer one more time and jumped all over it. The offer next season will be much less. Even if they would win before the NLRB the league would go bankrupt before having to pay it. There is no way the players can win. If the owners have been idiots in this the players once more have proven to the world that they can out-idiot anyone.
I do believe that the stance the owners are taking is for the betterment of the league in the long haul. Not entirely mind you, but at least enough to stem the tide. A complete financial overhaul of the league for the good is pretty much a utopian concept, given the collective aspect they operate under.
Now, we don't know for certain what ESPN will do and we don't know what the bigger sponsors will do. But even the threat of losing such influential partners is a major concern, and it goes beyond mere dollars.
Faith, trust, a belief that you can generate revenues; these are reasons why certain institutions offer and/or loan out money. It's done on merit, future expectations playing a large role. Sans details, this is a fairly simplistic view of what you could term "investments". Every business has to account for this and any changes that they can possibly see occuring.
Both parties are playing with fire right now. Their cash cows have hinted at reluctance; that is never a good sign. And the faith of potential sponsors is at risk as well. The NHL could recover from this hit, though it's a pretty high probability that it would take quite a while. Given the current state of the league, that's not the best probability to play off of.
Saving this season would be of tremendous help. Even guaranteeing the league would start up in October despite this lost season would help a bit. Anything less, we're in trouble. Fans, players, owners; everyone.