Gordon: Ultimately, the fans have the power in NHL money fight
It shouldn’t have come to this. Thursday is supposed to be the start of another National Hockey League season, a day most ardent hockey fans look forward to all summer long. The Ottawa Senators should be at the Bell Centre taking their morning skate, then heading back to the hotel to rest up for their season opener against their second-most-hated division rival, the Montreal Canadiens.
It shouldn’t have come to this.
Thursday is supposed to be the start of another National Hockey League season, a day most ardent hockey fans look forward to all summer long.
The Ottawa Senators should be at the Bell Centre taking their morning skate, then heading back to the hotel to rest up for their season opener against their second-most-hated division rival, the Montreal Canadiens.
Our writers should be there, keeping you up-to-date on who will be getting a shot on the top line, who will be playing alongside Erik Karlsson to start the season, who won the backup job in net.
Arena staff should be preparing the ice and the seats and the concessions and the parking lots to welcome thousands of spectators — paying customers — for the first of 41 home games
Sports bars should be turning a nice profit from those who decided to take in opening night with a pint and some friends.
Poolies should be checking web sites later in the night to see what kind of start their favourite players, or at least the ones they think will be most productive this year, got off to.
Instead, NHL.com informs us: “No games scheduled for today.” Over at ESPN, evidence of what should have been.
Senators at Canadiens. Cancelled.
Bruins at Flyers. Cancelled.
Canucks at Flames. Cancelled.
Blues at Avalanche. Cancelled.
It shouldn’t have come to this.
Ever since talk of a lockout started picking up steam this summer, I’ve been thinking a lot about moral hazard. The term had a resurgence of sorts thanks to the global economic meltdown and the multibillion-dollar bank and auto industry bailouts that followed.
If you agree to bail the companies out, critics argue, what’s their incentive to be careful with other people’s money and goodwill?
Which brings me back to the NHL. On October 8, 2005, my now-wife and I attended the first Senators home game after the lockout that cost the league the previous season. God we missed hockey, and we were thrilled to have it back.
The NHL painted “Thank You Fans” on the ice at rinks around the league and handed out miniature Stanley Cup replicas to everyone in attendance. Dominik Hasek pitched a shutout in a 5-0 win and everyone went home happy.
Hockey fans, me included, gave the NHL a pass. I think everyone knew that, at the time, the business side of the game was completely unsustainable. I mean, $9 million per season for Bobby Holik, right?
The collective bargaining agreement that brought an end to the first of what is now two lockouts in the past decade was supposed to fix things. Players agreed to massive salary rollbacks and a cap, league commissioner Gary Bettman made the dubious suggestion that ticket prices could come down as a result, and we all thought, ‘phew, at least we won’t have to go through that again.’
The NHL has seen massive revenue growth since. It has never been more popular.
Yet here we are, and it shouldn’t have come to this.
Many fans, maybe even you, are feeling powerless today.
When asked in August about how badly another lockout would damage the league, Bettman responded: “We recovered last time because we have the world’s greatest fans.”
I wrote a series of tweets after reading that, one of which wound up in a viral video (more than a million views) by Finnish video editor Janne Makkonen protesting the lockout. I said it once and I’ll say it again: Ultimately, fans have the power.
They’ll realize it when they stop pretending the NHL cares any more about them than Starbucks does about coffee enthusiasts, or IKEA does about students who need furniture, or studio executives who greenlit any recent Adam Sandler movie do about morons.
If your favourite donut shop suddenly started putting cilantro in your favourite donut, would you continue to buy it? You could talk to the manager, tell him that you don’t think cilantro and chocolate go together, but what if he didn’t listen? Maybe you would take your donut money elsewhere for a while.
Fans will realize they have the power when they acknowledge what the NHL knows already: This is all about money. And fans have the money the league wants.
You could argue moral hazard has done its job with Major League Baseball, which is well into the first round of playoff games while darkened hockey rinks dot the sports landscape.
After a series of disputes culminated in the players’ strike that cancelled the 1994 World Series, fans finally took their donut money elsewhere. According to a USA Today report written in 2004, marking the 10-year anniversary of one of baseball’s darkest periods, average attendance still hadn’t returned to pre-strike levels. 10 years later.
Commissioner Bud Selig told the newspaper that the greatest lesson he’d learned since was “how tough it was bringing the sport back. It’s taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I hope the lesson learned by all parties is that we need to solve our problems quietly and sensibly. Our fans don’t want to hear about this from either side.”
The NHL and its players still have time to avoid a similar disaster. If there are no games in October and November, it’ll sting, but it won’t be the end of the world. Once the Winter Classic and the entire season are put in jeopardy, fans will have to make a choice.
Will they stay quiet while their favourite league torches another campaign? Will they flock back whenever their teams do and say, “yes, your trinkets and your lovely messages painted on the ice are enough.”
Or will they say “never again,” and send a real message with their wallets?
It shouldn’t have come to this.
James Gordon is the Ottawa Citizen’s sports editor.
Twitter.com/SensReporter
For what it is worth, I am sensing an indifference to this among the people that I know. people just do not seem to care. I wonder what this means when the teams announce that they are going to be accepting money for tickets again. Will people pay hundreds of dollars for a hockey outing or will they be more hesitant than before. For now the lock out and the absence of NHL hockey is a non-event for the people that I see around me.
I would like to see all fans boycott NHL hockey until Bettman resigns. Then we show the NHL how serious we, the fans, are.
Bettman only does the owners’ bidding. Bettman only has as much power as the owners give him.
I’ve decided to impose a lockout of my own. I’ve already called the Senators and informed them to cancel my season ticket package because of this. I plan to go two years watching the games on TV rather than than give the NHL any more of my money. Will I subscribe to NHL Gamecenter or NHL Center Ice as I have in previous years? No. The NHL hasn’t lost a fan, but they’ve lost my money for the next 2 seasons. Hopefully other fans feel the same way and send a strong message with their wallets that it shouldn’t have come to this.
The NHL is dead to me.
I agree with the article that the last lockout seemed necessary, however, this time, it a straight money grab by the league and its figurehead, Bettman. I find that I am siding with the players and believe that they should get a bigger amount of the pot than the owners/Bettman are argueing. I however, believe that the pot should be shrunk by a factor of 10. Lower ticket/parking/concession etc prices and then I may come back. I hope that the season is cancelled so fans get as apathetic about this league as I am. Maybe then when a large amount of fans dont come back, and dont spend their hard earned money, the league will remember that the fans are the important part. The part that is currently, and historically, been ignored, abused and taken for granted. NHL – No Hockey League!
I agree. It’s about time they realize who they got their money from. I hope fans can realize that as well.
Cancelling tickets to the Sens is a good way to lose the team.
Before the previous lock out the players took home 75 percent of revenue.
Now they take home 57 percent-still too high, higher than any other league.
There has to be more revenue sharing, yes but also players overblown salries have to be reined in.
I am hoping that when this lockout is finished the new CBA will close off some of the loopholes that permitted agents and some owners to do an end run around the former CBA.
And then I plan to support the Sens in the hope that they will be on a firmer footing than before..
Baaaaa. Go ahead and be a sheep. Baaaaaa. Must spend my money to support millionaires and billionaires who laugh at me. Baaaaaa.
Not for this guy, let them leave. Last lockout my wife and I went to Barbados for a few weeks. Now seems like a good time to make that an annual thing. Screw the NHL, they won’t see a dime of mine until they go through a CBA negotiation without a lockout.
how about a canadian hockey league,can,t believe someone hasn,t looked into it.40 + percent of revenue from canada,1.4 + billion$ a year.the fans could own the league.33 million canadians,$25 a share,$825,000,000 start up money.hire 12 managers,rent 12 arenas accross country.lets do it. the x leafs fan x nhl fan
I read the article, and don’t we have any pride? Mr Gordon, between lines, is begging: “If there are no games in October and November, it’ll sting, but it won’t be the end of the world”, which means: “C’mon guys, come back, even in November. We won’t be mad at you anymore”. If you had not noticed yet, of course it is all about money (like everything else). Fans money. Since they are ready to pay whatever it takes for their gods to play hockey.
My commitment is not to spend a cent on NHL whatever for 2 years. I have had it.