NHL cancels November games
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NHL cancels November games
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The NHL on Friday canceled its November schedule because of the labor dispute.
League-wide, 326 games _ 26.5 percent of the season _ have been scrapped.
The Flyers have had 22 of their 82 games canceled. The earliest they could play is Dec. 1 at Flordia, provided the schedule isn't changed.
Using projections based on a Forbes report from last year, the Flyers will have lost $17.1 million in gate receipts for the 13 home games they will miss through the end of November.
Bill Daly, the NHL deputy commissioner, said the league will have to "rethink and restructure a proposal" because the last offer was based on an 82-game schedule.
If a new collective bargaining agreement was in place and the season started on Dec. 1, teams might play a 64-game schedule. In that scenario, teams could play division rivals six times (24 games) and their other conference foes four times (40 games).
Daly, in an email to The Inquirer late Thursday night, said the league had "no specific goals" as to how many games would be played. "Our general goal is to reach an agreement as soon as possible and to preserve as much of the regular season as possible," he said.
Asked if hiring a mediator was the next step, Daly said, "Perhaps. We will see."
The league still hopes to play the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium. Commissioner Gary Bettman last month said a CBA needed to be in place by mid-November to save the event.
The agreement between the NHL and the University of Michigan says the Winter Classic can be canceled up until Jan. 1, the day of the game, if there is a work stoppage. The league would have to pay the university $100,000 of the $3 million stadium rental fee if that happened.
Before this year, the last time Bettman and the owners locked out the players was in 2004-05, when the entire season was lost.
And now the league has even more leverage because NBC, a subsidiary of Comcast, will pay the NHL $180 million this season _ even if no games are played .The tradeoff is that if no games are played, the NHL would not charge NBC for a year that is added to the back end of the 10-year contract.
(more coming)
Does anyone really care?— squarepeg- The NHL just announced to an empty room that there will be no games in November. In more important news, Rod Icestriker has won his first Curling World Championship in front of a packed arena of 17,000.— UncleStosh
- Who owns the arenas? Don't the taxpayers? Maybe the state or local governments should get involved and sue for breach of contract. Better yet, those arenas not owned by NHL owners should actively support any attempts to start a new league. Nothing would make me happier than seeing the NHL fold and a new affordable (for the fans) league take its place. Bring in the KHL.— schnitzelboy
- I doubt the NHL will get much more of my money. Ownership is destroying the game with their inability to manage their payroll. Last lockout was because the owners wanted the cap to ensure "cost certainty." They got it but still can't manage their payroll. It makes me think most of them made their initial fortunes through s**t luck cause they sure can't manage the business of a hockey team.— txflyer
- I did up grade my comcast to enjoy my Flyers.Iam not happy about the strike.Back to my first love,the Eagles.— bill the pill
- just cancel the league as far as i care .... im done with it, just pure friggin greed...... i loved the game too. greed is a major disease in pro sports and a disease that will eventually kill it all together— pr0f3ss0r
- Cancel your season Tix— ghost78
- Good one Uncle Stosh! Maybe we'll get lucky,they'll move the whole thing to Russia where someone other than the lemmings that watch this stuff in the U.S. care and we won't have to hear about it anymore.— JLH
- If Romney loses the election, he should be the next commissioner of the NHL. If he's such a sharp businessman, let him fix the league.
— TexColorado - it's actually nice not having to watch BryzGodIneedavodka butcher the goalmouth this year!— cleflyer
