It’s been a sad week for hockey fans around North America. For most fans it would have been filled with the excitement, anxiousness and tradition that comes with the opening days of the NHL season, but this year it’s a little more gloom. Commissioner Gary Bettman and league executives announced the first two weeks of the season, a span that would have contained 82 games, have been cancelled. Many take into question what these negotiations are boiling down to at this point. Is it really about finding the solution to the financial issues of both parties, or has this come down to a matter of pride?
Recently, Gary Bettman and the owners have been saying that they’ve made considerable changes to their initial proposal and the players haven’t budged at all. All this is, is an attempt to win the hearts of the fans. What Gary Bettman leaves out of that comment was that the first proposal the league made was unrealistic and had no expectations of being met at a 24% pay cut. The NHL executives have played their cards right. They did so because once they compromised their proposal towards a 9% pay cut, they look like the good guys. They look like the ones who are trying to make a deal to end the lockout; a tactical move by the executives, pressuring the NHLPA to stay clear from the “bad guy” image.
There have been countless reports on twitter, and professional blog sites from reporters claiming the NHL executives have bullied them. They are all given access to the team locker rooms, interviews with players, coaches and other members of the staff to put together their reports, and ultimately do their jobs. Allan Walsh a NHL journalist reported that he along with many of his colleagues received calls from high NHL executives screaming at them for writing and publishing something “pro-player”. These reporters were told that if they wrote anything more with a “pro-player” or “pro-NHLPA” approach to their blogging, they would threaten to fire them, deny access to the team, and restrict the flow of information they initially have. This had to be one of the last things the NHL executives needed right now. A hockey fan with some common sense (or whoever read my “NHL Lockout For Dummies) knows the executives are greatly responsible for the lockout, why would they try and hide it? The fact that they are threatening journalists into writing only “pro-NHL” hurts the integrity of the executives, owners and the league itself.
“This is not about ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ a negotiation. This is about finding a solution that preserves the long-term health and stability of the league and the game.” Said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. The league had made a 66% increase in total revenue since the last lockout, profit was skyrocketing in recent years. The NHL has already lost a reported $230 million dollars in revenue, which isn’t exactly petty change in this 3.3 billion dollar industry. Somebody please get this man a calculator.