Tom_Benjamin said:
I agree, but this is just another way to say cap. Whether it is done by team or across the league, it is a ceiling on player salaries and the ceiling is a percentage of league defined revenues, rather than the individual team revenues.
It's not based on individual team revenues... it's based on the revenues of the teams that generate the most revenues, which is stupid if you want any kind of an economic balance throughout the league.
I wonder why the entire employer offer has not been released. We know what the players have put on the table, but we don't know what the owners have offered. They claim there are six different proposals. I couldn't find any of them on their spiffy website. I'd like to have a good laugh over the proposed revenue sharing.
Really... what was the players full offer? What were their exact numbers? I haven't seen them floating around either, just talk of a 5% roll back, a luxury tax and revenue sharing.... no solid numbers anywhere.
I've submitted this question to the NHL and also asked them for more information about the "meaningful revenue sharing" they propose. I got money that says I don't get an answer.
Gee, you think? Take 5 seconds to consider how many hundreds of thousands of other fans have submitted questions to the NHL...
According to Goodenow, "Yes, they gave us six proposals, but they were very, very, very conceptual. Some of them in length were less than 3 or 4 inches of type."
Why hasn't the NHL laid out a very specific idea of what they want and what they can live with? Tell us how they think revenues should be defined, give us the player percentage, tell us when free agency will occur, explain what changes they expect in the arbitration process, how the cap will work, etcetera. Give us - and the players - their real opening bargaining position.
a). Who is this Us business? You aren't involved in the negotiations are you?
b). The players haven't done it either. The players haven't laid out a specific idea of what they want yet either.
c). Neither side has done it for the simple reason that they aren't stupid. You lay out what you can live with, and all of your leverage is gone. You could put the fairest deal in the world down right off the bat, and it would not get accepted, because the second you get an offer, you look to get more. It's basic bargaining, and neither side has been very forth-coming.
The players will never buy into the link between salaries and revenues, but I can imagine a link that I would support. I'd leave the CBA exactly as is but have a portion of every player's salary placed in escrow. At the end of the year count up the revenues and settle up. It provides cost certainty with the same basic structure.
Well that's a lovely idea... ignoring the fact that most of the squabbling has to do with the fact the players don't agree with how the league counts revenues (and has refused the opportunity to check it themselves). And what is a "portion"? 5%, 10%? 60%? And how is it decided what happens with that escrow fund?
Don't whine that the NHL doesn't give you anything tangible, then come up with a cockeyed proposal that does the same thing.
That would not change very much from the fan's perspective. The only hesitation from the owner side would be the competitive balance smokescreen they have created would be blown away. Ignorant fans in smaller markets would still see themselves as being screwed.
Ignorant?... take your cranial cavity out of your anal one. What do you think competetive balance means? Is it all teams being equal, with talent being spread out across the league?
No.
Competetive balance means that if you hire a good GM, and a good scouting staff, and have a good coaching staff in place, it means you can build a championship team. Not just a one run to the Cup team, but a legit Championship contending team.
Competetive balance means you aren't forced to deal your top players each and every year because their salaries are too high. It means that your team isn't a feeder team to the top teams in the NHL year after year.
That's competetive balance. It's where personel decisions are based on what you think is best for your team, not what's best for your teams bottom line... and it's like that for all the teams... not just 7 or 8.
So before you talk about ignorant small market fans, look in the mirror. Ignorance applies to you for not understanding what a lot of us small market fans go through, but continue to make comments like you do.
It's moot because the players would not go for it, but I would.
Of course they wouldn't go for it... who in their right mind would agree to watch a portion of their fairly negotiated contract go into a fund where they aren't sure how much of it they would get back... added to the fact if the % was small enough, it would take all of one contract for the players to demand that much more, so they still get the money they wanted originally. If I want $1.4mil, and it was 10%, I'd be shooting for $1.54mil. That way, I'm not out any morney.
And naturally, this solves nothing....
I can't understand why so many fans are prepared to accept the owner's position without knowing what they are really demanding. What, exactly, do they want? Put a real proposal on the table.
Why are fans prepared to accept the owners position?
Because we know what the players position is: "The current system works"... when it's plain as daylight to see it doesn't work, especially not in the 30 team league that is the NHL. We know the players position is definitely not one that works.
"Here is the system that we think will work. This is what we mean by an new economic order."
Maybe the players should do the same? They've been just as unwilling as the Owners have. Both sides have their wants...
NHL: Cost certainty. They don't want player salaries at 75% of league revenues... they want it much closer to 60%
NHLPA: The free market. We want individual owners to pay what they feel is right for the players, just like it has been for the past 10 years.
Why are so many fans buying a pig in a poke?
Because with both sides hiding everything, it's the only way to let the cat out of the bag...
The NHLPA make me sick they don't care about the game, they don't care about the fans and they don't even care about half of their members. The union must realize that they have until January to negociate a cap other wise the cap will force down their throat next summer. The owners will win this war they have to. Enough is enough 
