NHL lunacy gets worse
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NHL lunacy gets worse
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
It’s Day 91 of the NHL lockout, and both sides are lawyered to the max.
NHLPA: Waaaaaah! We’ll go to court and prove the lockout is illegal.
NHL: Waaaaaah! We’ll get the courts to void all the players’ contracts.
NHL fans: Waaaaaah! We quit!
That, in a nutshell, is where we stand, folks: Two greedy sides still arguing about how to divide $3.3 billion.
Do you still care?
The league and the players’ union have gone to the courts _ or are about to go to the courts _ to complain about each other like grade-school kids. The players are in the process of voting to see if they should file a disclaimer of interest. If they do, it’s their hope they will dissolve the union and file an antitrust suit against the league _ and ask a judge to declare the lockout illegal.
The league has filed a pre-emptive legal strike, trying to stop the players from dissolving the union. (And it’s not because the NHL loves the union’s boss, Donald Fehr.)
If the NHL is unsuccessful in claiming the lockout is legal, it wants to have all player contracts nullified and declared void.
That, in effect, would make every player an unrestricted free agent.
Want Sidney Crosby? Claude Giroux? Shea Weber?
Step right up, bidders!
Repeat after me: CHAOS.
What we have here is a lot of posturing. If both sides spent as much time negotiating as they did trying to ruin the opposing party, well, we might just be playing hockey now.
Maybe all of this legal mumbo jumbo will speed up the process and lead to a settlement, as it did in the NBA last year, when it had a new CBA 12 days after the union filed a disclaimer of interest.
My guess: We have a settlement just before Christmas and we’re playing on Jan. 5.
Will any fans still care by then?
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Comments (33)
A lot of powerfully disappointed NHL fans trying to voice their feelings. If you assume that they can get back to playing part of this season, or at all in the current league configuration, what will the league, owners and players offer to clear the terrible taste from the palate of the fans? How about playing this season or half of the first season back at $100K per player and on-ice officials, cover actual employee salaries and actual operating expenses only for owners, no pay for league executives and staff and union officials and every other penny goes to worthwhile charities. Find a way to prove that all the participants in this foolishness are grown-ups! Claim some high ground. I realize this may sound silly, but everyone associated with this should be looking to return with a big civic-minded splash. Win us fans back by showing us your big hearts. And players if the owners won't go for this type thing-go show them how it's done! Pro athletes seem very far from regular people. I have always felt that the distance from reality range was least for hockey players, followed by baseball and that the other pro athletes reside in other solar systems distant from the rest of humanity. Nicely said NWPA66-we're all fans whatever the team colors we wear.— RI_flyers_guy- Of course the fans will still care. There are millions of fans like me who can't stand NBA basketball. This time of year is for hockey. Even with no hockey i still can't force myself to watch NBA basketball. College hoops and Family Guy re-runs are filling the void until hockey returns. The fact that the NBA is such a joke helps the NHL. Is the fact that the NHL is not playing boosting interest in the NBA? I highly doubt it.— stumpy128
- wahhhhh...sam is wrong again...same..what does the magic dartboard say today?
— Shemp Howard - Already canceled my season tickets and got my refund. I'll never be a ticket holder again. Will I go to a game? Maybe? But on my terms. No more trucking an hour and fifteen minutes on a Tuesday night to watch a crappy matchup vs. Winnepeg. The Flyers try to sell you that you can't get tickets. You can get tickets for any game you want on stub hub. If I go back it will be when I want to.— irish22
- I applaud your resolve in cancelling your tickets.
But do not buy tickets on Stub Hub. They charge too much and add all kinds of service fees.
Go to the Ticketmaster Ticket Exchange web site. You can get a better selection of seats and pay less money, as well as print the tickets immediately. Stub Hub makes you wait until the ticket holder sends them the tickets which they then send to you. And they *charge* you for that!
Most people are unaware that not every season ticket holder goes to every game. Sometimes their schedule won't allow it, or sometimes they don't care to see the Flyers opponent. So they offer the tickets for sale on Ticket Exchange. And here is the good part: You can often get the ticket for at or below the face value. The closer the game, the cheaper the ticket, because if they don't sell it, they are out the 15% service fee they get charged by Ticket Master plus the cost of the ticket.
Try it, you'll like it.
— backhand - Dutch 10 is correct. At this point I'm so sick of this b s that I hope the players succeed in an anti trust claim. BUT that will never happen because the owners know that if they loose they loose everything. That is why the owners are trying to delay the players actions by filing their own bogus lawsuits. BETMAN IS A nick name for Richard!— BLUEBELLION
- oops. incorrectly blamed hoffman for carchidi's drivel. I apologize to Rich.
will fans still care by January 5th? when did hockey fans ever care before Jan. 5th? the season is way too long. nobody cares until after the new year regardless. in my view, they should always start on Jan. 5th. It'll probably be the best most exciting season to date.— Ryan - Only 17,000 and something, or whatever the number, care in Philadelphia.— watsonmr
- Reduced to watching old re-runs on TSN is not cutting it. Basketball sucks, the Eagles suck, Phillies still far away....I've actually become a big fan of the UFC! Greed has become commonplace in this society. Any wonder the country is in decline.— dogman5
I gave up caring in 1994. One way to look at this situation is to conclude that this is what the NHL get's for trying to be one of the big boys in the room. The sport has too much of a regional appeal to be considered as popular as say basketball.
This isn't just about paying the players what they want. It's also about keeping some teams from folding. The league expanded into every nook and cranny to popularize the game where it can't be played naturally and now it's time to pay the piper.
I wish I could be as stupid and rich as these owners.— Atomic Fury- "I wish I could be as stupid and rich as these owners."
I don't think it is so much stupidity as it is monumental greed.
— backhand - Don't let real life get in the way of your opinions, in real life it is never totally one sides fault.
I have been saying all along, fire the players or as stated here void the contracts, implement whatever payscale the owners want and let the employees either come back to work for whatever team will have them, or find another cash cow ... good luck with that!
If we start over with AHL'ers and college kids, in 5 years it will be the same league anyway ...— FatBoy90 - cancel the season now because I have. The owners have screwed the little people arena workers,area business. I can't wait if the is a season to cancel the NHL package from my Direct TV— Wilky
- Right now the fans are last on their 'care about' list. We can all sit here and complain, it won't mean a thing. What will get their attention is when opening night is half filled--that's when the fans make a statement. Or, when Snider is introduced or whatever, everyone stands up and turns their backs. That will get their attention then. Plus the loss of revenue--the only way these people pay attention is when you hit them in their wallet. That being said, the NHL negotiating tactics are absurd. The union puts up multiple proposals, all of which are rejected. Then the NHL takes things off the table. They put them back and don't change the offer. Wonder why the union rejects it? Oh because its the same offer they keep pushing. I would bet that there is division between the owners as well, hence Bettman's gag order with accompanying fine. The owners getting charity (or revenue sharing as they like to call it) outnumber the profitable franchises. If I owned a profitable franchise and had to keep skimming off the top to help other teams, I'd be angry too. NHL should look at the failing franchises--if they are in the red for too long, goodbye team. No more keeping them afloat just because. Or move them to profitable areas. Phoenix doesn't need hockey--its the desert for crying out loud. I've already written this season off--no hockey again this year. And I hope it takes them 5 years to recover what they lost because they deserve it for acting like whiners. (more towards the owners on that last one--players offered to play and they got hosed hard in the last CBA. Won't happen this time).— ena1977
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Broad Street Bull is the Inquirer's blog covering the Philadelphia Flyers and the National Hockey League.
Reach Sam at scarchidi@phillynews.com.
Sam Carchidi
Inquirer Staff Writer
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