Greed by Whom?

English 1004
November 18, 2012

Greed by Who?

September 15, 2012 the NHL owners decided they had enough and locked out the players after a new collective bargaining agreement could not be reached before this deadline. Under the direction of League Commissioner, Gary Bettman, this is the third work stoppage for the league. The last lock out was in 2004–05 when, all of the games that season were cancelled. In 1994-95, the league played forty eight instead of the normal eighty two games. In addition to reduced schedule no inter-conference games.
Like most disagreements, revenue sharing is at the center of this current dispute. Revenue is in the NHL is earned from many different ways, such as merchandise sales, television contracts, sponsorships, and investments. Jamie Fitzpatrick (2012), a hockey writer from about.com reports, “Since 2005, league revenues have increased by an average of seven per cent every season”. Under the previous collective bargaining agreement (CBA), players received guaranteed share of 57% or $3.3 billion of hockey related revenues. The owners want to cut back and are offering the players association a 50/50 split of the revenue. Owners feel the players need to not only look at the revenue increase over the past few years, but also the cost of doing business has gone up much than the revenue increase has. Another aread of disagreement is that NHL rules currently don’t allow player to bring their families on the road with them. Players would like to change this rule, as they want to become better role models for their kids. There are many times during the season that a team can be away from their family for more two weeks at a time. So whereas the disagreement over revenue sharing may be more difficult to resolve, the CBA could address players dissatisfaction with the amount of time they get to spend with their families. Therefore, the NHL needs to shorter the playing season, allow the families to travel with the players on the road and host more family sponsored events.
NHL owners should allow players to play a shorter season, which will allow them to be more healthily and less injury prone and provide them with a better quality of family life. Right now teams play a10 preseason and 82 regular season game schedule. With the season starting with training camp in early September and ending in Mid April, it’s a long season. Currently players are spending on average 20 days a month away from home. If teams would go to a shorter schedule, not only would the fans benefit from it as the star players would be healthier, but the players families would be able to spend some more time with them. The owners wouldn’t be in favor of this plan because fewer games equal less revenue for them, however if the players would agree to give them a higher cut of the split revenue, the owners may be willing to agree to the shorter season. Therefore, a shorter 60 game season would be a win/win for both the owners and the players. In return to the shorter season, the players would have to give up a percentage of their salaries to make it work for both sides.
Players want their families to be able to go on the road with them from time to time, but currently the CBA only allows the team to do one family trip and majority of the teams use it as a Father/Son bonding trip. Instead, each team should be allowed to have several planned family trips over the season, but in return the players should be responsible for the travel expenses of their family members. This would include airfare, food, game tickets, and hotel. At a day and age where spending time with family is at more of a premium than ever before, providing more opportunities for family members to join the players on the trips, will benefit both families and the players. This is because players would perform better with having their family around them. Most owners seem to think families are a distraction and the less distraction for the players, the more focus they will have. On contrary, players would be more relaxed and would be able to focus instead of being uptight and nervous about being away from home so often. This change might also reduce the number of divorces from married players getting in trouble on the road.
In addition to more family travel, more family sponsored events should also be provided by NHL. This would show the players and their families that the teams do actually care for the players. Most players are just a number on the score sheet and on the team’s payroll. Most teams don’t care about the player’s private lives, which is a shamed as many wives do a lot of charity work for the community. Family events could include simple gatherings such as BBQ’s, game night, or just hanging out to socialize. In the long run, the players would be happier and so would their families, and they will perform better on the ice. Better play and more wins means more revenue from the fans in the seats. After all, the owners want is the best performance out of their teams so they can win games.
With the prior two lockouts, the NHL was at a all time high for fan attendance. With increased interest over the past couple of seasons, who knows if that fan attendance and interest will remain when hockey returns to the ice. After the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, fans loss so much interest that when the season did started back up, their league experienced a major drop in both attendance and interest. Author James L. Doti (n.d.) once said “Greed will always destroy something good “, in this case, it’s the longer the lockout goes on, the less revenue both sides make, and the greater the chances of losing BOTH revenue and fan interest.

Fitzparick, J. (2012), NHL Lockout Watch 2012: How They Differ on the Issues as of August 15. F About.Com/Hockey retrieved from http://proicehockey.about.com/od/nhlnewsscoresstats/a/Nhl-Lockout-Watch-How-They-Differ-On-The-Issues.htmJamie Fitzpatrick,
Doti, J. (2012), Capitalism and Greed. FEE Inspire Educate Connect retrieved from http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/capitalism-and-greed/