The Business of HockeyDiscuss the financial and business aspects of the NHL. Franchise sales, valuations, TV contracts, ratings, expansion, relocation, the CBA and work stoppage discussion goes here.
From what I can gather from the article it seems he's looking to take back some of the concessions the owners got in the last CBA. With 2 of the 3 labor deals reached this year the leagues won big. Looking more and more like there's going to be a fight this summer.
DF. You know, it’s sort of interesting. In the last couple decades of the last century in the States, and a little less so, but continuing throughout the first half of this one, there has been a tendency — unfairly, I think, in many cases — to blame the employees any time there’s a labour issue. I used to say that the baseball players’ association got criticized because it was effective at doing its job. But there were two long strikes in baseball. In 1981, the owners took out strike insurance and then forced the players out on strike … The owners settled the day their strike insurance ran out. And in 1994-95, what people sometimes forget is the strike ended because the owners were found to have engaged in unfair labour practices, violating federal law by refusing to bargain in good faith … This is a long way around saying if you need to be afraid of anybody, I don’t think it’s me.
A lockout would probably have nothing to do with whether the owners need the money. Only the truly gullible could buy that now. But there is another $300mil a year clawback of player salaries possible over a period of 6-10 years. With this $2bil in pie to fight over, the owners have the lawyers, guns, and money, and will make it as ugly as possible a fight to try and get it.
The humourous part for some of us then becomes watching the mental gymnastics and logical contortions required to rationalize support in the owners desire for that money.
Good read, I definitely enjoyed it. Certainly agreed with him on everything he said. It will be interesting to see what kind of lies the league will try to spin to make the players look bad this time.
He has a point about Marvin Miller not being in the hall of fame. Every professional athlete who makes millions playing sports owes a debt of gratitude to MM. There are about 30 executives in the HOF, yet Miller is repeatedly ignored.
I gave up watching baseball with fehr running MLB union. The moment he took over the union I predicted a war. Things are just getting warmed up and I predict part of the season will be lost due to no CBA in place. Fehr killed a MLB season after orginally agreeing to play the full season under the old one. He stated that MLB broke an verbal agreement and MLBPA had no other choice. The owners went over the top with the union last time. I like the godfather and to use a phrase from that movie NHLPA has a "war time consigliere" this time around
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He has a point about Marvin Miller not being in the hall of fame. Every professional athlete who makes millions playing sports owes a debt of gratitude to MM. There are about 30 executives in the HOF, yet Miller is repeatedly ignored.
I gave up watching baseball with fehr running MLB union. The moment he took over the union I predicted a war. Things are just getting warmed up and I predict part of the season will be lost due to no CBA in place. Fehr killed a MLB season after orginally agreeing to play the full season under the old one. He stated that MLB broke an verbal agreement and MLBPA had no other choice. The owners went over the top with the union last time. I like the godfather and to use a phrase from that movie NHLPA has a "war time consigliere" this time around
How about the owners and the collusion stunts that they tried to pull against the players? Fehr did the right thing in baseball and took them down. The little guy needs someone like Fehr to protect them from these financial psychopath types.
How about the owners and the collusion stunts that they tried to pull against the players? Fehr did the right thing in baseball and took them down. The little guy needs someone like Fehr to protect them from these financial psychopath types.
right, because baseball doesn't have the most outlandish salaries or the most unbalanced financial system. And at least until this year it didnt have a system that allowed for 7 figure bonuses to be paid to 14-18 year olds either. Oh wait, it did
and does all those things. What "little" guy even exists in baseball? 17 year old 10th round picks get 250k signing bonuses without stepping foot on a field.
This entire situation points to another at least partial lockout which will be horrific for hockey in the USA. We still haven't recovered fully from the last one and this would only further choke out the interest. As far as im concerned the players and their, I believe, 53% are making out great considering the average salary jumped from 1.9 mil to 2.4 mil from 07-10.
That's 25% in 3 years. Any normal person or company would accept that kind of increase as a great sign the system is working and growing. Any unionized company or person however sees that increase as a sign that there's even more money being made so there should be an even greater amount taken. Eventually the union prices its labor out of the free market and we get a lockout in sports. Or companies downsize and ship/lose jobs over seas like the steel and auto industries did once their unions ballooned to unsustainable sizes. Or you get a 50% unfunded pension plan for port authority workers union that you need to increase taxes on normal citizens to supplement because their legacy costs are greater than their operating costs, like here in Pittsburgh.
This entire situation points to another at least partial lockout which will be horrific for hockey in the USA. We still haven't recovered fully from the last one and this would only further choke out the interest. As far as im concerned the players and their, I believe, 53% are making out great considering the average salary jumped from 1.9 mil to 2.4 mil from 07-10.
Hold on a moment...
A lockout implies that the owners no longer want to continue under the current CBA. This is the CBA they wanted and received from the lockout seven years ago. So the owners are going to play the lockout card again, but this time because of a deal they wanted?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sina220
That's 25% in 3 years. Any normal person or company would accept that kind of increase as a great sign the system is working and growing. Any unionized company or person however sees that increase as a sign that there's even more money being made so there should be an even greater amount taken.
I think Fehr has to take the position that more money can be made. The owners have mentioned here or there that they want to claw back the league revenues percentage to around 50 percent. Truthfully, I'd think the players would love to stay under the current CBA. It's ownership that has a problem with it.
The moment he took over the union I predicted a war.
There is little basis for this. Fehr is the only sports labor leader who has gotten how ward through two successive CBAs without a single minute of lost pay.
Apart from that, he and Bettman want the same thing - significantly increased revenue sharing - so the real fight won't even be between them.
There is little basis for this. Fehr is the only sports labor leader who has gotten how ward through two successive CBAs without a single minute of lost pay.
Apart from that, he and Bettman want the same thing - significantly increased revenue sharing - so the real fight won't even be between them.
Well--As a montreal expos fan I disagree. Fehr is pure business and the NHL has never dealt with a guy like this before and the NHL owners have their view on things and I don't think they realize how good this guy is for the players. The NHL is more or less still an old boys club on the owners side and Fehr is a guy who will go to the wall for the players and it sounds like the players are behind him. The NHLPA nuking the realignment is the evidence you need. In theory it was a simple thing that the NHLPA stood up and said no and so it is a dead issue. Fehr gives nothing away and the owners will not walk away with all the stuff they won last time out
Well, it depends, a brief lockout is survivable, even if the season is shortened by a couple months. The PR would be terrible but if you're playing by christmas, it won't kill it. Another 2004/05 however would be something the NHL may literally never recover from.
I'm not with the owners or the players in the situation, both sides are looking out for no.1 and talk from owners about being concerned for the fans is as hilariously fake as NHL multi-millionaires trying to invoke labor union imagery and sympathy with the "little guy".
I think Fehr will use the fact the NHL can't really handle another lost season as a weapon and I think the owners won't go for it, because Fehr's coalition isn't very solid - with both cap floor and cap ceiling having gone up so much too many players have made bank under the current CBA to feel as aggrieved as some of the NHLPA types may feel. The trouble with that is that this gives both sides enough hope for ultimate victory that I doubt we will see any quick resolution and at least a partially lost season will likely be the consequence.
The players have made out like bandits since the lockout...Fehr needs to realize this...there just can't be another work stoppage...
See, I don't get his mentality. He needs to realize that NHL revenues have grown and that a plan the league presented, linkage, needs adjustment? Why? The ONLY reason NHL players are getting a larger share of the pie is because revenues indeed have grown. That's what they wanted. "Players, be our partners, help us get HRR up and IF it grows (>$600 MM), you can go from 54% to 57%.
NHLPA has a "war time consigliere" this time around
I gotta think Don Corleone would be far more impressed with the ruthlessness and organizational structure of Bettmans power structure than the NHLPAs.
War time consigliere, you guys crack me up. A war time consigliere would be starting a player run league, played in local arena's on web tv for paypal contributions until the 50% of revenues going to the owners is gone, not fighting to protect the players from getting yet more money clawed back to finally fix it this time we promise.
I guess what Fehr is missing is the fact that all the other pro sports league can say 50% of sports related revenues go to players, and that is a good enough reason for hockey fans to expect the PA to give up again, even if they are all completely differently derived numbers, its the propaganda value that counts.
