guymez said:
How can you deal with only one side of the equation and think that it is a valid argument? Don't expenses play a role? A cap does matter if it lowers the teams player expenses to the point were the net income goes up. Therefore lower ticket prices are possible, especially in a market like Edmonton were the owners got involved primarily to break even.
The key is budgeting on a fixed cost of doing business at a sustainable amount. Its only a matter of time before this happens. When the ineffectiveness of current union strategy (what exactly is that anyway?) becomes obvious to the majority of players, things are going to get quite interesting.
I agree with that, but the old debt is still there. They have still lost millions of dollars. Its doesn't magically disappear just because you have a new CBA. Its kind of like running your credit cards up to the limit and then getting a new one. You may have a new credit card with nothing on it and lots to spend, but you still have the old debt. I just think the NHL should start to make some money before they start to lower ticket prices
Bettman had virtually nothing to do with the demise of the Jets. The Dallas Stars probably had more to do with it than Bettman. I lived in Winnipeg in the early 90's (back when ticket prices were very affordable) and that city did not support that team as well as they should have. There were very very few if any sellouts during the regular season. Is that Bettmans fault? Is it Bettmans fault that at the time no one stepped up to procure the necessary funding for a badly needed new arena. Little wonder no one stepped up when they didn't even make it much past 75% of capacity over the regular seaon in the old Winnipeg Arena. The city of Winnipeg has no one but themselves to blame....with the possible exception of the big market teams who drove up salaries exponentially, which expedited Winnipeg's demise. (Kinda ironic to think that teams like Dallas played a role in Winnipegs demise...don't ya think)
So please explain how Bettman is responsible?
I guess Bettman should have been standing on Portage and Main all through the 80's and early 90's wearing a sandwich board with a sign pleading the city of Winnipeg to support their team.
In your defense however it is pretty easy to get caught up in the NHLPA's mantra of ......Blame Bettman For Everthing.
I don't blame Bettman for everything, but for this I do hold him partily responsible. The NHL promised the city of Winnipeg that they would save the Jets and didn't. Whether he had no control over it or not, he made a promise he couldn't keep.
The Jets had a real bad owner. Barry Shendakrow was as bad of an owner that you could get. He was greedy, self-serving and selfish. He had probably the worst arena deal ever made and didn't care. At atime when the Jets badly need the proceeds from concessions and parking there were none, and he had no interest in even going to arena to ask for them. But Bettman should have stepped in. The NHL should have stepped in. Maybe its not Bettman's fault, but when your the man at the top as they say "the buck stops here" and with the NHL the buck stops with Bettman and anything and everything to do with the NHL is Bettman. That might not be fair, but its just the way it is.
But the big market teams had nothing to do with the Jets being sold, but had everything to do with Shendakrow being greedy. A group together with the City of Winnipeg has raised the money to buy a portion of the Jets (I believe it was 42%) for $32M which would leave Shendakrow with 22% of the team. They even agreed to let him keep a seat on the Board of Directors, the governorship of the franchise and two year consultant fees to help a new person to run the day to day operations. But Shendakrow was greedy and wanted more. He not only wanted a seat on the board of directors, he wanted the presidency.
But the Jets could have sold out most nights if the manangement had even resembled compentency in mangement. But still 12-13,000 filled that arena every night. This team was no different from Buffalo and Ottawa, yet Bettman saved those team.
This more than anything highlights exactly why I don't fell sorry for Dallas fans at all. The Dallas Stars have the money to stay the course with the last CBA so who cares what the impact is on most of the league. How self serving is that? They don't give a rats ass about the financial sustainability of the league as a whole as long as Dallas has their annual shot at the Cup. That either speaks volumes about how stupid they are or how selfish they are...I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and go with the latter.
You call it passion....I call it self serving and shortsighted.
Nobody is asking you or anyone else to feel sorry for Dallas fan or any other large market team, but to take it out on the fans of team is just....well childish. You can hate Tom Hicks or Doug Armstrong for signing those players, but as a fan I had nothing to do with the signings. And as a fan I don't consider myself selfish or shortsighted, but passionate. I was unaware that I need to be a fan of a small market team in trouble to be considered passionate.
I cheer for whomever they put on the ice whether they pay them $9M or $900,000, that what fans do. I haven't supported all those signings. I hated when they signed Guerin. I thought it was a waste of money and I still belive that. Nothing would make me happier than have Tom Hicks ship Guerin out of town, gee maybe Edmonton will take him back. Nothing made me happier then when the Stars refused to ante up to Derian Hatcher last summer. Perhaps that was the beginning of their smarter ways. Although they do still have some big names signed, I think they planned for the new CBA better than Detroit, Toronto and Philadelphia who just seem to sign and sign not caring about the new financial landscape of the league.
I admire players like Jere Lehtinen who last summer signed a contract extension and when the Stars asked him what he wanted he said all he wanted was a no trade clause. They gave it to him, along with a slight raise, afterall he is a 3 time selke winner, nominated 5 times, I think he deserved the no trade clause.
I admire players like Don Sweeney, Stu Barnes and Rob DiMaio who take pay cuts to play for the team, yet play their heart and soul out every night. I think you would be hard pressed to find a night that any of those players did not earn their paycheck. I hate players like Marty Turco who think they are better then they are and hold out for more money when they are not worth it.
So if it was my choice I would take a team made up of Jere Lehtinens, Rob DiMaio's, Don Sweeneys over a team of Bill Guerin, Jason Arnott and Marty Turco any day of the week.
I don't blame the fans in Edmonton for the team they put on the ice, so why do you blame the fans in Dallas for the team they put on the ice? Do you think Tom Hicks cares what I think about his Guerin signing or any of the signings? And I truly believe that if Hicks has won by spending all that money he wouldn't be singing the salary cap tune, but he lost and wasted his money. There is no easier way for him to stop spending the money than to jump on the salary cap bandwagon.
And if you back and read some of my posts you will see that I have always said that this league needs a salary cap. I think the players should have taken Bettmans $42.5M offer and I think they should take the $37.5M because it may not be a great thing for the players, but its the best thing for the health of this league. I want this league around today, but I also want it around in 10 years. I want all the teams to compete. But I think there are things in the prosposals that are too pro-owner that I don't like. I think the owners want to make their proposal risk free on their part and yet reap all the benefits. The owners not only don't trust the players, they don't trust each other. They may all be on the same page right now, but just wait until the CBA is signed and FA signings start and you will see the backstabbing start up once again. You have owners like Bill Wirtz who won't spend a dime and doesn't care if he wins or loses, he only cares about how much money he makes. An owner who could give a crap about his fans. An owner who won't even televise the home games . he's not alone there are a lot more like him and I think the NHL should force owners to spend a certain amount on players, TV, etc so this game grows. As long as there are owners like this, this game will never move forward and grow.
I think they are just bullying the players and that is why I a more pro-player than pro-owner.
of addressing this and backing up my claim. I don't think its necessary to add anything further.
