thinkwild said:
Linkage is clearly not a fair deal, because the players get no say in the revenues they are being linked to. There is no reason the players should trust the owners numbers one bit. Owners have clearly lied time after time and have a long list of criminal history even within the current ownership ranks. But whether or not they are untrustworthy, the system is not set up to incentivize them to do the best thing for the revenues the players are being linked to without control.
The NFL owners already had revenue sharing which makes players open to a cap, because the owners have incentive to police themselves in the players best interest. But the NFL is further different from the NHL because the NFL owners are not allowed to have the cross ownership models the NHL owners have where they can hide all the money.
here's how it works.
first move by NHLPA: okay, we're going to take linkage of 60% cieling to 52% floor, or whatever it will be.
response by NHL: wooooohoooo! (obviously not, but they'd be pretty happy about this)
second move by NHLPA: we've given you your major piece... now all the small bits go to us.
once the NHLPA gave the NHL linkage they would have been in a strong position to negotiate the situation to as favorable a place as possible. they could have gotten involved in the specifics of what would have been going this way or that as "revenue." they could have hammered them on revenue sharing. they could have done a LOT of stuff after that point. they didn't do it.
if you are negotiating with someone that is saying as loud as possible, "WE MUST HAVE THIS!" give it to them, but make it cost 'em. the NHLPA's negotiations have been absolutely idiotic and have shown zero understanding for the negotiating position they were in, both it's strengths and weaknesses.
to suggest that there is no way that a system could have been formulated that would allow for the NHLPA to trust the numbers that the NHL was providing is absolutely idiotic.
1) clear guidelines for what constitutes revenue for all teams.
2) between the owners and players choose a group of accountants that will at the end of EVERY season go through the teams books and make an assessment of their revenue... which will then go into the equation for league revenue, and thus player salary levels.
3) HARSH penalties for any team that is found to go below the floor or to be hiding revenue from the system. I'm talking draft picks, fines and anything else you can think of that will hit the teams in the nuts for a long time.
4) play hockey.
if the NHLPA really thinks that group of accountants that are hand picked by themselves to fairly look through the books would be unable to catch stuff that the teams are doing they are kidding themselves. the system works, teams in the NFL have been busted for cheating the system on a few occasions.
the NHLPA has handled this so poorly it is sad.