Time magazine article on the NHL lockout

[JKidd]

You may not have noticed that the NHL hasn’t started its season yet, which is arguably Problem #1 for the wannabe major league: Ice hockey is fourth in a three-horse race of pro team sports vying for the affection of casual U.S. fans. Problem #1A is the lockout of players that’s been in force since Sept. 15, which has resulted in the cancellation of nearly 550 regular-season games to date. But in the event you are following the inaction rinkside, don’t be fooled when league officials or anyone else claims that the main issue is greedy players. The real problem in hockey is not in the locker room, but in the owners’ suites and commissioner’s office.

The NHL would like you to believe that owners give too much money to players. That was management’s position almost a decade ago—the last time the league locked out its talent—when players were getting three-quarters of total revenues. After an entire season was voided, the NHL Players Association caved, agreeing to lower its members’ share of revenue to 57%. Peace and harmony have ensued since, but now the owners want an even bigger piece of the pie, claiming financial hardship.

Don’t believe them, not for a minute. First, as I’ve written about before, sports team accounting is misleading at best, given that club owners can claim to be losing money when a) the losses are on paper only; b) there are tax benefits from whatever losses happen to be real; and c) the value of their teams continue to rise.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/12/19/...#ixzz2Fc2P1DFE

[woeisme]

Awesome. This entire article is 100 percent true.

[JKidd]

Woe - I think it's probably the best, and most well written article not only about the NHL's problem, but sports leagues as a whole.

A shame we've had to come to this point, again, but I hope more and more people look at articles like these and realize what's really going on with this situation.

[antonio106]

Originally Posted by JKidd

Woe - I think it's probably the best, and most well written article not only about the NHL's problem, but sports leagues as a whole.

A shame we've had to come to this point, again, but I hope more and more people look at articles like these and realize what's really going on with this situation.

You just have to read the comments page underneath to see how many people are woefully, stupidly blind to the whole situation!

[JKidd]

Originally Posted by antonio106

You just have to read the comments page underneath to see how many people are woefully, stupidly blind to the whole situation!

I prefer not to... for the exact reasons you mention.

Some people, simply not worth the time and energy that goes into reading their completely misguided and warped take on reality.

[NickDoh]

If we find the root of the problem it means we can fix it. But what we really want is ashes and a Phoenix (Not the one in Arizona ).

[Treehugger]

Originally Posted by NickDoh

If we find the root of the problem it means we can fix it. But we really want is ashes and a Phoenix (Not the one in Arizona ).

Go bounce your basketball.

[steg1989]

Good article, not too much optimism in it though.