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February 20, 2004
Dan Barnes
Sports Comment
The lockout is a lock.
For more proof, we offer up the NHL's new web site - www.NHLCBANews.com -
which was launched on Thursday. It's littered with facts, explanations,
definitions and opinions on the collective bargaining process, but they
cannot obscure its real purpose.
"Quite frankly I think it's all propaganda," said Jim Boone, president of
the NHL Fans Association, which has more than 21,000 members. "It's pretty
transparent. It's a poke at the players association and I think it could
backfire. Even if it's correct, when it's propaganda, it's skewed by the
fact it's propaganda. And it's really dangerous to tamper with public
opinion."
Most of his membership and hockey fans in general support a salary cap. Most
already think players make far too much money.
"Strategically it would have been wise to let this thing take on a life of
its own because fans are definitely on ownership's side this time around,"
said Boone.
So why the rush to follow up last week's release of a financial study that
claimed league-wide losses of $273 million US and pegged player costs at an
unreasonable 75 per cent of gross revenues? Why would the NHL ramp up a P.R.
war they have already won by default because the players know it is futile
to join?
Simple. To pave the way for a lockout they feel is necessary because the
union won't accept their vision of a new economic system that ties salaries
to revenues at a far lower percentage. They know a lockout is more dangerous
for the league than the players if fans won't tolerate a work stoppage.
Through surveys, the NHL has tested those waters and found them warm, but
they want public opinion at an even more comfortable level by Sept. 15 when
they lock the doors. The site's domain name was registered in October and
they are obviously executing a battle plan that focuses on public relations
rather than negotiations, at least for now.
In fact, neither side has made a priority of talking things over. The NHLPA
is content with raking in every last benefit of the current deal and
proferring only skepticism rather than constructive solutions. The NHL is
intent on spinning its story.
"It's always useful to have people believe in what you're doing and it's
hard for them to do it unless they are informed," said Oilers ownership chair Cal Nichols, in response to the unveiling of the web site. "But at the end of
the day I don't think this is anything that should be fought on the
battleground of public relations. You must end up with a deal that works."
We all know NHL players make too much money under the current system. What
is lost in the mad rush to blame the players is the fact that some teams have
driven those salaries skyward, to the detriment of fiscally responsible
franchises like Edmonton. As much as CBA mechanisms like arbitration have
bumped up player costs, so too has the wild spending of the Rangers, Flyers,
Wings, Stars and Blues. Remember the ridiculous contract Ottawa gave
Alexandre Daigle? How about Boston's bonus-laden Joe Thornton deal that made
a mockery of the entry level salary cap? Don't forget the front-loaded offer
sheets for restricted free agents Joe Sakic, Chris Gratton and Sergei
Fedorov in the late 1990s. The Rangers offered Sakic $21 million US for
three years, $15 million up front. The Flyers gave Gratton $16.5 million
over five years, $9 million to sign.
"I'm embarrassed. I'm part of it. I make decisions that have been part of
that loss," Carolina GM Jim Rutherford said last week when the financial
survey was released. "We make decisions year after year on how much to
spend. No one told us we had to spend what we have."
In 1998, he offered Fedorov a six-year deal worth $38 million US. The Red Wings matched the offer and owed him $2 million in salary, a $14 million
signing bonus and a $12 million bonus when Detroit reached the Western
Conference Final.
It was an offer sheet, not a salary demand.
Six years later, the league is in financial trouble, the lockout looms and
the league is busying itself with a public relations gambit that is
completely unnecessary. The millionaires on skates have absolutely no chance
of wooing the ticket-buyers who pay most of their ridiculous salaries.
Players greedy, owners struggling; it's already a popular perception. The
NHL would be wise to leave it alone.
dbarnes@thejournal.canwest.com
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