At the risk of being redundant, let me reiterate, I have little interest in following the NHL Lockout.
Sure, I buckled a little bit last week when the NHL made, as Commissioner Gary Bettman called it, their best offer.
But any sense of optimism, even minimal, was skewered when the NHL Players Association made 3 counter-proposals, all of which went nowhere, and sent me scurrying back to ” I-Don’t-Care, Ontario, Canada. “
Sure, I’ll return when they get back to something of substance, but until then……..
I’m avoiding the day to day filler that surrounds this dispute, because to the average fan, it’s meaningless.
Take for example the NHL’s statement of losses to this point in the dispute.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly surmised the cancellation of the exhibition season and the first two weeks of the season cost the NHL close to $ 250 million in revenues.
As Austin Powers would say, ‘ Boo-frickety-hoo. “
You don’t want to lose money, don’t lock the players out. And if you do lock the players out, don’t cry about your losses.
But don’t think for a second I’m supportive of the players.
The average NHL salary, the AVERAGE, is around $ 2.5 million per season.
Do these guys think they can ever make this money back ? Do they think they can go elsewhere and command that kind of wage ? A select few; yes; but for the rank and file, what a poor financial decision on their part to squander massive riches.
So, again, I’m done. Done with the NHL until they have something significant to report.
I’m Fred Wallace