Yeah yeah, sure sure... tell it to the 2002 womens olympic hockey team, the 2002 mens olympic hockey team, the 2004 world cup champions and the 2005 world jr champions.

 

I wonder how many teams will fold because of this?

 

Mike... if/when the NHL returns, I hope it's a 24 team league. That's bad to say, because I fear 2 or 3 of those 'lost' will be the smaller market canadian teams... but it'd be better for the league.

 

Just the Canadian ones.

 

I had a really interesting conversation today with my buddy who works for the Jacksonville Jaguars (he has been in sports management forever..(he used to work for the Nash. Preds)) ....he really faults the players... at the 40 mill figure the owners wanted he claims 80% of the teams STILL would be losing money!


Your scenario sounds very plausible!

 

Interesting. I couldn't disagree but speculating I've been more concerned about the loss of interest in the US. That would make markets like Tampa Bay and maybe even San Jose a risk. Calgary still has an overwhelmingly supportive fan base. Ottawa on the other hand.... could be in trouble.

 

I have a really hard time blaming the players. The owners got spend happy, more than tripling the average salary in less than 10 years. They jacked up ticket prices to compensate, alienating (or pricing out) a lot of die-hard fans that had been filling up stadiums.

That, and the players' conceding 24% across the board gives them a lot of favor in my book.

I'm not disagreeing with your friend, he is probably correct. BUT. The 24% rollback amounts to $320 million - nearly $100 million more than the NHL claims it lost last year. After the rollback, only 4 teams would be over the $49mil player figure, and only 9 above the $40mil figure. Some of the teams would be below $20 mil. Cap those top 4 and you're looking at another $30 million saved (of course those 4 franchises are all very profitable). If the owners weren't so ing selfish and could find some way to do revenue sharing, every team was being given a guaranteed $3-4 million annual profit. Throw in the slightest bit of self restraint amongst owners, and what would you have?

A very healthy league.

Thank you, owners.

 

I think Ottawa would make it...

Carolina, Buffalo, Atlanta, Nashville, Florida and Pittsburgh would be the most likely to go IMO... It'd be sad to see Buffalo and Pittsburgh go.

 

I'm throwing my 2 cents into this thread. I feel the biggest downfall of hockey/baseball/football etc has been the "guaranteed contract" that the owners give and the players get.

 

My understanding is that only MLB has guaranteed contracts... NHL and NFL players generally take contract/injury insurance in case they get hurt.