The fans are the ones ****ing themselves. If you don't feel ticket prices are reasonable, don't buy them. Prices adjust accordingly.
Why should NHL teams think their prices are anything but reasonable when people are constantly fighting to get tickets?
Let's take a look at this:
Fans are ****ing themselves because they continue to pay higher and higher prices every year.
Higher and higher priced tickets purchased by fans in some markets increase overall league revenues.
The league salary cap increases when overall league revenues increase.
Teams that charge lower prices for their tickets who aren't experiencing a similar increase in revenues are now seeing their team salary expenses increase, putting them in a non-profitable situation.
Too many non-profitable teams ****s over the league.
Going off of these facts, fans who are willing to pay high prices for tickets are ****ing over the league.
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I told ya so. I was right all along!
Fans are ****ing themselves because they continue to pay higher and higher prices every year.
Higher and higher priced tickets purchased by fans in some markets increase overall league revenues.
The league salary cap increases when overall league revenues increase.
Teams that charge lower prices for their tickets who aren't experiencing a similar increase in revenues are now seeing their team salary expenses increase, putting them in a non-profitable situation.
Too many non-profitable teams ****s over the league.
Going off of these facts, fans who are willing to pay high prices for tickets are ****ing over the league.
I'm not sure I understand why you're taking my comment out of context. Are you trying to disagree with me?
I'm not sure I understand why you're taking my comment out of context. Are you trying to disagree with me?
I'm just taking one part of your comment (definitely out of context) and showing the kind of impact it has. I'm not saying you're wrong; I think indirectly I'm proving my long standing argument that the current linkage set-up does not work.
I have a ticket to see Canucks-Leafs in early December so I'm hoping that the lockout gets settled by then. Don't think it will though. I dropped $250 on that ticket and would have probably dropped another $100 or so on beer and concession and sprung for a hotel, ferry, etc. If that game is wiped out, I'm not gonna be back for another, definitely not. I can spend that money to go to a few dozen Royals home games. Nor am I using the NHL.com site or its affiliates for the duration of the lockout. As a simple poverty-stricken fan, that's about all the economic power I can bring to bear.
In other news, I heard today that there's a "gang of eight" owners who are intent on keeping the lockout going. As a Canucks fan I immediately decided it must be Jacobs, Wirtz, Snider, Edwards, Leipold, Leonsis, Katz, and MLSE. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! It makes sense. Seeing how we know the following facts:
1) It requires a 3/4 vote of the owners to overrule the commissioner. That means eight owners plus Bettman could maintain the lockout over the wishes of the other 22.
2) The Canucks represent everything that's good and proper about NHL hockey, therefore our enemies must represent everything bad.
3) Our enemies: Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Minnesota, and the NHL itself as well as its major broadcast and media partners (hence Snider and Leonsis).
Therefore the lockout must be seen as a plot against the Canucks, perpetrated by our eastern rivals and enemies.
In other news, I heard today that there's a "gang of eight" owners who are intent on keeping the lockout going. As a Canucks fan I immediately decided it must be Jacobs, Wirtz, Snider, Edwards, Leipold, Leonsis, Katz, and MLSE. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! It makes sense. Seeing how we know the following facts:
Leonsis is probably the only one on your list that's in the group of eight owners. The high revenue teams aren't so committed to the cause that they are prepared to sacrifice a season over it.
The commish has three groups of owners: the ones who want to play; the ones in the middle, including Tampa and Nashville, who want a better collective bargaining agreement but recognize not playing is worse; and the hardliners. It would be a mistake to underestimate the last group. There are several who would rather cancel the season than accept a bad deal because they are hemorrhaging money and need immediate satisfaction.
While the players believe Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs is calling the shots, an educated guess at the final group includes but may not be limited to Anaheim, Columbus, Florida, the Islanders, Phoenix, St. Louis, Washington and Dallas -- enough to block any agreement from getting done (It's tough to lock it down because owners are forbidden to discuss this stuff. Attempts to talk to a couple were politely shot down).
Not surprised by any of the teams rumored to keep this lockout going. Most of them actually make gains from playing zero games this season. Makes sense for them to keep it going as long as possible so fan interest wanes so much that they all become lost causes and franchise failures and move to respectable cities like Kansas City, New Orleans, Houston, Albuquerque and San Diego.
**** you NHL.
Also I love the fact that Phoenix is one of those teams. Aren't they still owned by the NHL? What a farce. No we want a season so badly that our team that we run will be supporting zero games this season unless we get everything we want.
This is getting stupid.
At the beginning people were optimistic and say they will hammer something out.
Then on the deadline, they gave out over 200 million dollars in contracts to get people's hopes up.
They really started to talk after the deadline, but most of the offers by the owners, at least from a casual fan and outsiders, seemed like take-it-or-leave-it kind of deals.
That, to me personally, indicated that the NHL wants to destroy the NHLPA like the last time, except this time, Donald Fehr has balls and will not back down that easily.
When the NHL offered the 50-50 split, everyone had hopes again.
It was rejected by the players, but the players did have 3 other proposals for the NHL.
This is what a negotiation looks like.
The NHL, however, took less than a day to reject all of them and does not plan anymore talks.
Now, even the Winter Classic is cancelled, and it looks like the season is in peril...again.
I know I probably don't have all the details, but to me, this lockout is pretty unnecessary.
The state of the game is relatively healthy, unlike the last time, and it is still growing.
The revenue growth might be slower in the coming years, but in no way would it drop off a cliff.
I love hockey, and I want it to come back soon, but with the way everyone is handling everything, I think I am going to stay away for a while.
2 lockouts in 6 years?
Plus, quite possibly from the look of things, 2 cancelled seasons?
That is ridiculous.
The only way they would resolve this quicker in the future is if fans do not come back and attendance continue to drop.
It worked in baseball, and they had not had a lockout in 15 years now.
Dreger just said on That's Hockey that the NHL has extended an olive branch to the PA in the form of talking about the "make whole" agreement coming out of the owners pocket, not the players paying themselves back. Steve Fehr and Daly may meet face to face over the weekend and Dreger said a formal meeting with the big guns is likely for next week.
Positive news at least. If the NHL is really willing for the "make whole" arrangement to come out of the owners pocket, that's what the players want. Their full salaries, paid by the owners.
Dreger just said on That's Hockey that the NHL has extended an olive branch to the PA in the form of talking about the "make whole" agreement coming out of the owners pocket, not the players paying themselves back. Steve Fehr and Daly may meet face to face over the weekend and Dreger said a formal meeting with the big guns is likely for next week.
Positive news at least. If the NHL is really willing for the "make whole" arrangement to come out of the owners pocket, that's what the players want. Their full salaries, paid by the owners.
So there first real meeting comes nearly 3 weeks after the last ditch effort to save the 82-game season? Nice. At least it's something. Take your time, guys. I'll just be sitting here watching slow internet feeds of some good 'ol AHL hockey.
Dreger just said on That's Hockey that the NHL has extended an olive branch to the PA in the form of talking about the "make whole" agreement coming out of the owners pocket, not the players paying themselves back. Steve Fehr and Daly may meet face to face over the weekend and Dreger said a formal meeting with the big guns is likely for next week.
Positive news at least. If the NHL is really willing for the "make whole" arrangement to come out of the owners pocket, that's what the players want. Their full salaries, paid by the owners.
Dreger just said on That's Hockey that the NHL has extended an olive branch to the PA in the form of talking about the "make whole" agreement coming out of the owners pocket, not the players paying themselves back. Steve Fehr and Daly may meet face to face over the weekend and Dreger said a formal meeting with the big guns is likely for next week.
Positive news at least. If the NHL is really willing for the "make whole" arrangement to come out of the owners pocket, that's what the players want. Their full salaries, paid by the owners.
It's good news, it means the two sides are getting closer. Since Bettman is making the concession, it might be because he is starting to feel pressure from owners outside the group of eight. The NHL might be saying 50-50, but if the make whole comes out of the owners portion, it's probably closer to 52-48. Now there has to be some movement on the other issues like; UFA eligibility age, entry level contracts, contract length and what to do with current front-end loaded contracts.
From a Canuck perspective, this isn't too bad. With the owners willing to eat all of the Make Whole money, that all but ends the chances that they'd step back from cutting current salaries and we'd have to squeeze our whole payroll under a lower cap. On the other hand, giving ground here may mean they're not taking any of the non-salary provisions off the table, and there was some ugly stuff in there for us.
Oh wow, good news. Won't matter. It's just one step forward, ten steps backwards.
Agreed. With the Winter Classic now cancelled, there's almost no reason to have a season unless the players want to be the owners' *****es. They've already gone this far. I don't think we'll see anyone blink until next off-season.
Both sides are going to meet again, and players saying they are "cautiously optimistic". It's almost like I've heard this before from somewhere, but can't quite pinpoint from where. Can anyone help?
Absolute joke. Then again, them meeting is pretty damn news-worthy, I can't lie.
NHL and NHLPA still meeting after 4+ hours. Something positive has to come from this. Something as simple as Fehr and Bettman made eye contact - now that's progress!
Hard not to get one's hopes up with these recent marathon meetings. Hopefully they're finding common ground on something - anything. Everything starts with baby steps.
