'Fair' is entirely in the eye of the beholder.
The last CBA has expired, in essence, there no longer is an agreement in place. All of the terms that existed in the previous agreement, in theory, have no bearing on any go-forward agreement that is being negotiated.
At the end of the day, the owners hold all the cards in this discussion. My belief is that the present economic environment for the league is such that maintaining the status quo will result in dying a slow death, hence the push to take a greater share of the revenues. It is for this reason that I think that the owners are prepared to dig in their heels on the issue.
Everyone will end up losing in the end, but the owners are setting the foundation of the future relationship that the league has with the NHLPA.
They will be taking a larger share of the revenue, compared to last agreement, and I don't agree with
your explanation that the players decide to hold their ground on 'certain' agreements put in place last negotiations, is still alive and on the table
for discussion, and that is fair.
There are teams making huge profits, and teams losing money, the have nots are reinbursed by the haves,
has been that way for a long time.
The canucks for one, are a very rich organization, along with toronto, who makes the most money, and
many others doing just fine, the state of the financial wealth of the NHL is in good shape.
I'm not 'all' for the owners, this is a two way partnership, both need each other, the owners would not
be in this business without the highly talented players, and vica versa, they must work together for
the good of the league, and that is not the owners riding roughshod over the players assoc, forcing
them to give back, give back, give back.
There are some parts of running the NHL that the owners must take responsibility for, but they choose
to throw their money around recklesley, throw too much money at free agents, then turnaround and
and try to punish the players for their own stupidity.
I don't know how some of these owners made all of their multi millions, as some of the stupid things
they have done in the NHL makes one raise the eye brows, they couldn't be doing that with the rest of
their businesses.
Bettman must straighten out his mistakes he made with southern teams in the up n coming few years, and
get those team moved to areas where the fans will support it.
He has done well by moving atlanta to winnipeg, now lets see a few others moved. My goodness bettman
was given a huge raise for himself to 8 million a year, poor baby, he must be struggling to make ends meet each month, we might see him at the food bank soon.
The NHL is not in financial trouble, the lockout might make a few of those fans in those cities who don't
give a rats *** about the game, forget about it and not come back, but the rest of the fans will be
back as soon as the game is back, there are long waiting lists for seasons tickets in many cities,
and hockey is alive and well, and the game is better than it ever was.