What again is that old joke about bears and pooping in the woods?The NHL continues extending its lockout of players by announcing Thursday afternoon the first 3 weeks of the 2012-13 season have been cancelled.
In case you missed it (and many have); the NHL has locked out it's players for the 2nd time in the past seven years. And the reasons for it are several.
One: The league's owners are losing money. Hockey doesn't have a "Big" TV deal like the NFL, the NBA...or MLB. But they do have a deal.
Two: That money is split like all other sports. Only in hockey, it's more disproportionate. The players get 57% of it, the owners, the rest. (Negotiated in 2005)
Yes, we know there's more minutiae than than that, but that would bore you.
Who's to blame for this?
More like who isn't.
The NHL in theory had a great idea in their last agreement, which was supposed to cap...and limit salaries.
That didn't last very long.
The bottom end required for salary control, is roughly what the top end of the cap was just a few years ago. Somewhere around $50 million.
Not everyone can afford that. And arguably only a handful of NHL teams can afford that.
Who is to blame: In large part, the owners are to blame here, because they created this mess. It's hard to blame players for taking millions of dollars if they are offered.
So NHL fan, you sit at stalemate. And with a good chance of not seeing your sport this year. Unless you want to go to the minors, which, quite honestly, not such a bad thing.
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