who backs betman?

[Lanny MacDonald*]

look at my first post in this thread I clearly said that the players are looking after themselves and not the fans.

Look, I am just sick of all these pro-owners who just want a caop but have no idea that it does nothing to help the game. The only time a cap will work is if they have real revenue sharing plan.

the players asked for this but the owner don't want it. all the owner want is a cap nothing else. therefore the owner show less about the sport than the players.
what have the owners offered to HELP the game? A cap?? I think not. this cap will not help the poorer teams as they still will not have the cash for a 35 million payroll (their little revenue sharing plan does not help).

the players have offered to cut their wage, and a tax system. I would agree that the tax needs to be much higher though. In their first offer they asked for a good revenue sharing model but the owners said no way to that. NOw if the players offered a system of strong tax system and revenue sharing like the NFL then I think many of you wouldn't be on the owners side.

You're going to have to explain the correlation between a cap and revenue sharing? The players haven't given a damn about revenue sharing up to this point when they've had a gun to the owners' collective heads and raking in billions. But now that the league wishes to link earning potential to earned revenue, the player's association trots out revenue sharing. Why is it all of a sudden a big deal? It really makes no sense. The players could care less in the last system, but now its the most important thing in the world to them? I guess you're completely snowed and can't see the red herring in front of your face. Seriously, revenue sharing is nothing more than a red herring tossed out there meant to confuse those trying to follow this mess. Its almost as effective as the 24% roll back offer, which people still don't understand was a grand standing move. The players haven't given a squirt about revenue sharing in the past as they have milked as much money out of the game possible, but now its worth risking their livelihoods for. I call BS. The players only care (and rightly so) about how much they are making. They don't care where the money is coming from. They never have and never will. The revenue sharing game is more hand waiving from a bunch of con artists who don't want you to see what their real motives are. My recommendation is that you keep one hand on your wallet while you listen to anything from the clowns.

 

[CoolburnIsGone]

The only people who are "pro player" are people from places like Toronto and Detroit. Everyone elsse is chanting "GO GARY GO."

Nope...I'm essentially a 'pro-player' person (though I'm more in the middle...I just don't buy the owners rhetoric) and I was born and raised in south Florida. You have what I've been chanting for the last 5 yrs wrong just a little...I've been saying "GO AWAY GARY GO AWAY". Regardless of this lockout, Bettman should've been gone a long time ago...he's been bad for the NHL and that is what most people would agree to.

Also, people have false ideas about NFL revenue sharing. Other than their national TV money, the NFL doesn't share all that much. In fact, the NBA shares far more than the NFL. It only appears that the NFL shares more because the TV contract is so huge. Outside the TV money, the NFL shares only 40 percent of their gate, licensing fees and national sponsorships. They don't share local sponsorships (including stadium naming rights), concessions, parkings, luxury suites and a whole host of other revenue streams

Sure the TV contract is a significant portion of the revenue sharing in the NFL. But that 40% of gate, etc. isn't chump change and both baseball & basketball share about 35+% themselves. Considering all the pro-owner folks have reiterated the fact that the NHL is a gate-driven league, 40% of gate, licensing fees & national sponsorships would go a long way to helping the stability of the entire league. If you used an average ticket price of $45 and the total attendance from last yr of 19,854,841 (from ESPN's website), that works out to be $893,467,845 in gate revenue. If you take 40% of that and distribute it to the 30 teams, thats almost $12 million per team...that is significant no matter what system is put in place (luxury tax or salary cap). And the teams shouldn't share local sponsorships, concessions, parkings, luxury suites, etc because that is a direct product of their market. That's why I just don't understand the league's stance on revenue sharing (its not tied to a salary cap or luxury tax system) because it could help in the long run to keeping the league viable in all its current markets and supposedly Bettman wants all the 30 markets to succeed.

 

[jratelle19]

I believe that neither the players nor the owners are saints when it comes to this mess that the NHL is in. However, I believe the owners are more to blame. Bettman is nothing but a slimy weasel of a lawyer (I know, that's redundant) and the most fitting quote about him and his love of hockey is encapsuled in a quote from Orlando Magic GM Pat Williams when Bettman was named the NHL commissioner: "I gave Gary Bettman a hockey puck once and he spent the rest of the day trying to open it."

The NHL as a league is worse off now in large part due to Bettman.

As far as the lockout is concerned, I side more with the players. That said, I do know that don't have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to bargaining leverage. If they are smart, they will wait until the last possible second (which I believe to be the end of the month), keep spewing the "we are united" rhetoric and then take the best offer possible and play what little of a season that they can.

If they let the league cancel the season, they will only be signing a deal next year for a salary cap with a lower threshold and less concessions on the owners' part. And what good will that do?