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Curious what everyone thinks of locked out players heading to Europe to play?

   

If I were advising the union, I'd tell them to accept whatever deal the owners offer, get playing and then, in the background, work full time on creating a Players' League. The NHL could be run out of business, permanently, if the players got their shit together and realized what parasites the owners are.

Either that or go to Europe while working full time on creating a Players' League.

   

See I don't agree with them going to Europe and potentially taking a job from some poor guy who plays there for a fraction of the NHL salary and who never will have a hope in hell of making the NHL.

As for the players forming their own league, nice idea but how long would it take before the players became as bad or worse than todays owners.

   

Millionaires in a disagreement with Billionaires?

They can find 'sympathy' in the dictionary between 'shit' and 'syphilis'.

   

Pretty much agree. No matter what happens it will be the fans who pay, and pay big.

   

I haven't been to an NHL hockey game in so long . . . the last game I went to I got the best box in the house, because I was a manager for the a company that was part owner in the Oilers and sponsored the building.

Other than that, if I could get standing room tickets in the nosebleeds, they were $50 each! So I stopped going, and got involved with Auto racing. I like guys that pay for thier own entry fees, wrench their own cars, tow the trailer all over western Canada for the chance to race . . . seems more 'genuine' to me.

   

I went to an NHL game last season due to my boss giving away some tickets. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be able to go. Standing room tickets (which suck) for the Leafs are $45. Good luck trying to find other seats, as single open seats are usually $100+

As for auto racing.....I go every year to Mosport International Raceway for the ALMS events, and $50 gets me a full day's pass that includes 5-6 races, sitting wherever I want, pit and paddock access (as well as the shmoozing with the drivers on the starting grid pre-race), as well as awesome action. You can't beat that price or what you're getting.

-J.

   

   

Yeah... it's sick isn't it?

As far as players going to Europe to play... I don't know. It seems to me that it would be unfair for them to agree to play in Europe, then a settlement gets reached in the NHL within a few months, and they would want to ditch the European team to return. If they are going to go and play there then they should be willing to commit for an entire season. I'm not sure how those types of contracts work though.

At this point it's hard to say if the NHL season will simply be delayed in getting started or if we'll be looking at the entire season being scrapped.

   

I'm with the players on this.

The owners locked out the players for a deal they wanted and now realised they shit the bed. Without players, the league is nothing but a fart in the wind and it's fans who pay everyone that end up suffering.

   

Fans? Besides not watching hockey, no big cost to them. They'll suck it up and watch something else.

The ones who pay the most will be the small players in this picture... the people who work in the arenas during the games, in the concession stands and parking lots. The referees too... and others who work in the restaurants and bars near the arenas.

   

I should have clarified. By fans, I meant those who watch the games live and they WILL pay when this is over.



Yep.

   

The bottom line is that the fans, as always, have the big end of the stick here. They decide how much money professional hockey generates and because of this, how much money players and owners make. If you don't like how much it's costing you, you stop watching.

   

That's a good idea in theory, but the billionaires either own the arenas the teams play in or have them locked up in long-term leases with the cities their teams are located in.

Unless players are willing to take a huge paycut (like earning 5% of what they do now) and play in much smaller arenas, it'll never happen. After all, you can't pay players $6 million a season if you can only fit five thousand people inside the arena.

   

This pretty much says it all...

   

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