Quote:
Originally Posted by Herby
That's a fluff piece. The finances of a good chunk of NHL teams, including almost every team in the southern part of the country are terrible.
The league wide hockey revenues are also drastically cut into because the players are guaranteed 57% of them (minus anything held in Escrow). This is laughably bad for the owners considering the NFL players get 47% and NBA players get 51%
95.6 capacity, and how many tickets are being given away in Florida, Phoenix, Carolina, Tampa. How many others such as in Anaheim are considered sold when part of a buy one get one free season ticket plan. Or how many others such as at Staples Center are sold as premier seats and never used. Yes it still counts as a ticket sold, but no money is brought in from any other sources and it's not a good indication of the strength of the market.
I'm not saying the owners aren't to blame, they signed the damn thing, but at the same time its a clearly flawed salary structure when Jarret Stoll might get $4 on the open market or Christian Ehrhoff can demand as much as he did last summer.
If the NHL were making as much money as your piece indicates they wouldn't be about to go through another potential labor stoppage which could do serious damage to the leagues reputation and future. But they have no choice, the finances are just a mess, way to many teams are in the red with some teams on the verge of collapse.
They didn't ask for nearly enough concessions from the players. Also the salary floor has been a disaster for many franchises who are already losing money hand over fist.
If the owners knew in 2012 the floor would be $48 million, which is $9 million higher than the ceiling was in 2006 they would not have signed the deal.
There are quite a few franchises who just can't afford to spend $48 million a year on salary and stay afloat.
The NHL needs 24-26 teams tops, there is no reason to have franchises in Phoenix, South Florida and Columbus. Contraction would be ideal but neither side will discuss it for different reasons.
|
Very good points all around, but the the NHL will never contract a team. Bettman's ego would never allow it, the same way the NBA won't do it either even though they have teams bleeding money too.