On Friday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman went public and warned that if the league and the NHLPA could not come to an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement by September 15th, the NHL would go into a lockout and no games would be played in the 2012-2013 season.
Well, that's interesting.
Hockey fans across North America are now in a bit of a panic, worried that the NHL will in fact lockout and they will not be able to watch professional hockey until the two sides come to an agreement on a new CBA. I, however, am not worried at all.
Shortly after Count Bettman went public with the threat, a few players sounded off on hockey's most hated man.
Henrik Lundvqist of the New York Rangers had a few things to say about the Count's comments.
Reasons for my behavior, still adjusting to parenthood.. Or it could be Gary Bettman's comments on shutting down the league..#Alotonmymind
— Henrik Lundqvist (@HLundqvist30) August 10, 2012
The @nhl says they won’t play past Sept 15th under current deal. Apparently they don’t like the deal they designed. #CBA #nhlpa2012
— Henrik Lundqvist (@HLundqvist30) August 10, 2012
Brandon Prust of the Montreal Canadiens sounded off on Bettman's comments as well.
Disappointed the League is talking about a lockout before we even give our @nhlpa counterproposal. #theplayers
— Brandon Prust (@BrandonPrust8) August 10, 2012
Apparently the players hate Bettman as much as the fans do.
Let's assume the NHL does lockout. That would be the stupidest thing they could possibly do. The league is clearly greedy and power hungry. To have a lockout now, when national interest in the NHL is beginning to peak, would be the worst thing possible and that's what Bettman is heading towards right now with his poor negotiations and brutal tactics. If he's complaining about revenue and income to the league right now, just wait until there is a lockout and national interest drops significantly. Income and revenue will be 20x worse than it is now.
The business aspect of hockey can be very confusing, but it isn't hard to understand that a lockout would damage the NHL. When interest goes down, networks lose viewers. When networks lose viewers, they begin to back out of contracts and sponsorship agreements with the league. When that happens, the league loses money. And if there's anything that makes league officials and team owners have a coronary, it's losing money.
Ah ah ah!
It's probably time the turkey loses his job.
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