Is this dispute is about money or principle? I think it’s probably fair to say “both.†Why? Let me quote from the excellent book
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior. The following excerpt is from Chapter Six: “In France, the Sun Revolves Around the Earth.â€
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The splitting participant could divvy up the money any way he or she wanted. The receiving partner was then presented with the offer and had to decide whether to accept it or not. If the receiving partner accepted, both participants would collect their shares. If he or she rejected the offer, both parties would leave empty-handed.
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The interesting part is what happened when the people deciding on the split gave themselves more than half. As you can imagine, their partners felt indignant. But were they indignant enough to walk away from the money? The answer, a vast majority of the time, was a resounding yes. Rather than accept the money they had been offered, most participants who were presented with an unfair split rejected it, opting instead to walk away empty-handed.
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When Gary Bettman argues that the players will be better off financially if they just start making concessions now and avoid missing any games, he isn’t wrong. Players have short careers. Losing even half a season represents a bigger drop in total career earnings than the concessions they’d make to the league. From a financial perspective, it strikes me as all but inarguable that the players’ best bet is to settle quickly.
But then, that’s not really the point. I think when the players, for the most part, look at how things have been handled they’re struck by the unfairness of the league’s position. Gary Bettman has been trumpeting the league’s record revenues ever since the last lockout. Now he’s demanding massive concessions. Owners have signed players to long-term deals – as recently as the day the collective bargaining agreement expired. Now they’re hoping to claw some of that money back, in their first offer through a rollback and in later offers through escrow. The league couldn’t exist without the players – what right to guys in suits have to demand concessions every time the CBA expires?
Fans have a different perspective. For a guy making $50,000 a year, it’s hard to get around the fact that a guy making $10 million to play a game isn’t willing to accept $8 million (or, for that matter, $500,000). Yet, some players have already shown that
it’s not about the dollar figure – signing for less money to play for leagues in Europe. For a player like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, he’ll go from a base salary of $925,000 in the NHL (before bonuses) down to $70,000 in the minors – and yet, the indications are that he’s going to do it. Ditto for Jordan Eberle, who can look forward to $65,000 for a full year in Oklahoma this year – and $6 million (should his current contract be unaltered) in the NHL next year.
