DR said:
i fail to see how the test was worth 1 billion dollars.
That depends, if the players had offered a $52m cap in September (though Decemeber would have been more likely), the NHL would have held out for a $32m-36m linked cap. Then we wait some more, end up in January and the players sign a $40m cap.
Now, they have forced the NHL up to $40m, and are probably hoping they'll get to $45m or $46m by the end of it. That's about $150m/y. Over 6 years they get most of that billion back (well probably not if you work out lost value of that money).
Maybe, just maybe, if they had discussed it before the season this deal might have been done in December.
The players opening bid could have been a $60m hardcap back in August, then just maybe they meet around $45m by September and we have a season. But that is more longshot than probability.
The owners are left to deal with the damaged NHL revenues alone since they are now unlinked. The player lose $1B. The fans ****ed off. If the lockout causes one or two teams to folds it gets worse for everyone. Kind of short sighted.
Goodenow's should have held out but he should also have known when to fold. Bettman has been playing him like a fiddle, Bettman beat him in the PR war, Bettman wouldn't give him a deadline and just kept stringing him along, teasing the players with a mirage of a season.Its his job to read the players mood and read the oppositions resolve. Goodenow should have worked this after December, that's his job.
The "no linkage" part of the deal is just a face saving exercise at this stage. They could have gotten the no linkage part in any deal at any stage. Heck, the NHL would have jumped on the no linkage back when they knew what their revenues were. Right now the players probably want no linkage as much for the fact that so much damage has been done and they don't want to hurt by that.