Day: September 10, 2004

Well so much for optimism huh?  NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman elected to implement a lockout of the players at 12:00am last night, and although he didn’t need it, all thirty owners voted to support his decision, making clear their intentions to implement a cap of payrolls in the NHL.  In hindsight it appeared that the decision to go to war was accepted a long time ago by both sides, a revelation that is only that much more frustrating to we the fans when you consider how long this has been brewing.

While both sides have made nominal attempts to bridge the gap, the lines have been drawn and neither side is willing to budge much, at least not until the stakes have become higher than they already were.  At the center of the debate is the degree at which the league is losing money.  The owners claim 75% of their revenues go towards paying players, while also claiming that the Rangers accounted for 40 million dollars of losses last season in order to support their argument.  On the other side is a union of millionaires who are looking to make a “decent living”.

There’s only 5 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes and 33 seconds left until the collective bargaining agreement between the National Hockey League and the Player’s Association expires.  Whether there’s be a new agreement in place at 12:01am of September 16th, 2004 is anyone’s guess at this point…and I do mean anyone’s.  The war of words in the press, that has heated up over the past few days is nothing more than a show put on for those of us who are still around to observe it.  The real dealing is still going on behind closed doors, far from prying eyes.

Certainly there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that there will indeed be a lock out by the owners, teams have laid off much of their staff, cancelled or postponed training camps, and are even refusing group bookings for tickets in some cases.  And yet, there is still some room for optimism and the planned 2004-05 season.