Jean Beliveau is one of the classiest gentlement I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Now he's spoken out against the players and hit the nail on the head.
While Beliveau is a great man and was one of the best Habs to ever don the jersey, he is giving a biased opinion because he is employed by the Montreal Canadiens! Also, the players don't "see" the mistake because of the large amount of mistrust between them and the owners. One of the contentious issues deals with the financial numbers that the owners provided for the Leavitt's report. Some owners "forgot" to include revenue from luxury box rentals and rink advertising, causing the numbers to be less accurate. So, the players believe that the owners are not telling the entire "truth" as to how bad off they really are financially. Both sides are to blame for this lockout, but until they can get together and continue negotiating, there will be no NHL games for a long time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scintillating
Jean Beliveau is one of the classiest gentlement I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Now he's spoken out against the players and hit the nail on the head.
Simply put, I think it's ludicrous and incredibly arrogant for the players to even think that they deserve to make as much (or nearly as much even) as the owners.
In the real world, employees don't believe they deserve to earn as much as the owner of a company. Let's say I work for a small - mid sized software company earning:
60k per year as an intermediate programmer.
A junior programmer earns 45k.
A senior = 70k.
Supervisor around 80k.
The 'company' (ie the boss) has net gains of around 1 million give or take.
This is a very simple economic hierarchy. I can't think of any other scenario where an employee (ie a player) earns more than his supervisor (ie the coach) or believes he should earn as much as his boss.
These owners are the ones who put large amounts of money on the line to purchase teams and try to make that team successful for the fans (and yes to earn more money). A few of them are to blame for outrageous salaries, but the players ultimately have to wake up and smell the contraction - before it's too late!
I don't care if the owners hide revenues. The players are still grossly overpaid and they should be conscious of it. Also there shoudn't be that many teams. Implanting new NHL franchises in Columbus and Nashville was totally ridiculous.
Béliveau is 100% right. The players are presently strangling the goose that has been laying golden eggs for them for years. They will pay a dear price for their greediness.
In order to solve this conflict the NHL team owners should fire Gary Bettman and the NHLPA should do likewise with Goodenow. These two egomaniacs think their personal feud is more important than the game and they are prepared to deprive the fans for years just for their own personal pride and financial advantage.
I couldn't care less for Linden and Damphousse and all the NHL primadonnas who are presently making $300K per month to play in Europe. These guys are laughing at us. If they donèt come back fast to play in North America, I hope the owners do everything in their power to bring the NHLPA to its knees and start the 2005-06 season with players who need and want to play.
Last edited by rocketlives: 11-11-2004 at 06:47 AM.
While Beliveau is a great man and was one of the best Habs to ever don the jersey, he is giving a biased opinion because he is employed by the Montreal Canadiens! Also, the players don't "see" the mistake because of the large amount of mistrust between them and the owners. One of the contentious issues deals with the financial numbers that the owners provided for the Leavitt's report. Some owners "forgot" to include revenue from luxury box rentals and rink advertising, causing the numbers to be less accurate. So, the players believe that the owners are not telling the entire "truth" as to how bad off they really are financially. Both sides are to blame for this lockout, but until they can get together and continue negotiating, there will be no NHL games for a long time.
Yeah, but the players want the owners to include the money they make from other events at the arena. What kind of bull is that?
''But wait until the weather gets worse, football is over, and these people come home from a long day's work to watch a good hockey game - and there is none.''
That line from Beliveau states what I fear the most. Imagine it's the middle of February on a crappy day with nothing on the TV but BASKETBALL!! Dear God help us all!
He's not making these statements because of his position with the Montreal Canadiens... he's saying this because he's a fan of the game. He also made comments about all the "supporting cast" who lost their jobs as a result of the NHL lockout.
This whole deal stinks!! The fans lose, the people who work within the industry lose, even the owners lose. But nobody is making a move to fix the problems. I think it's time that either Wayne or Mario or both has to step forward to get the bargaining process started.
A funny and at the same time sad statement from one of the readers of this article.
"This guy is a dinosaur. Quit being a management suck. And shut the hell up! The game was nothing more then a glorified "beer league" when this guy "starred" in it. I've watched tapes.....I should know. Today, the game is more business based. All the way through. When the Oil sold Gretz, that's what they said. So now the player's should be loyal? When? When it's convenient for the owners? Shut up Beliveau! If you were stil a player, then you could talk. Go back to making your living off the sweat of the players, just like the owners do. Wait a minute, that's what you are trying to do, with your out of time, and unasked for comments. "
A funny and at the same time sad statement from one of the readers of this article.
"This guy is a dinosaur. Quit being a management suck. And shut the hell up! The game was nothing more then a glorified "beer league" when this guy "starred" in it. I've watched tapes.....I should know. Today, the game is more business based. All the way through. When the Oil sold Gretz, that's what they said. So now the player's should be loyal? When? When it's convenient for the owners? Shut up Beliveau! If you were stil a player, then you could talk. Go back to making your living off the sweat of the players, just like the owners do. Wait a minute, that's what you are trying to do, with your out of time, and unasked for comments. "
Almost looks like an RDS poster.
Yeah. kind of an ignorant dumbass response for sure. Maybe the players should get more than 75% of all earnings.
