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September 16, 2004
David Pollak
San Jose Mercury News
Anyone expecting Wednesday's shutdown of the NHL season to be a polite
affair was badly mistaken. After all, this is hockey.
"Our game deserves better than a union in denial," Commissioner Gary
Bettman said, sparing any hint of reconciliation as he announced that owners
were imposing a lockout timed to the 9 p.m. expiration of the players'
collective bargaining agreement. "The union doesn't seem to care about the
problems, the game or our fans."
The union, he added, "is instigating a fight. They think they can win this
fight.... They're wrong."
Management's side
Bettman was only slightly more subtle in explaining why closing up shop as
training camps for the Sharks and 29 other teams were about to open will
lead to the "cost certainty" players reject as a salary cap.
"When you look at the history of labor relations," he said, "sometimes
work stoppages change expectations."
For now, the only expectations officially changed are those of fans who had
held out hope that exhibition games would begin in 10 days. Bettman said he
told owners to clear their buildings for the next month.
No date was set for negotiations to resume, and Bettman made it clear he was
in no hurry. Getting the right deal, he stressed, was more important than
trying to make sure the season isn't lost.
"If there's time to play some games, we'll do it, and if there's not, we
won't," said the commissioner, who ruled out extending the Stanley Cup
playoffs into July.
Bettman said the dispute wasn't a personal one between him and NHL Players
Association president Bob Goodenow -- "Bob and I go to games together, we
have dinner together, we play golf together" -- but Goodenow wasn't so
sure.
"I just think sometimes when you're in a situation and you want to lash out
for whatever reason, you just pick a target," Goodenow said a few hours
after Bettman's news conference. "And I was the target today. Gary says a
lot of things, frankly, that I take with a grain of salt."
The union's side
The union president rejected the idea players were the ones picking the
fight -- "It is absolutely stupid and ridiculous to suggest that" -- but
made it clear the players wouldn't back down in what has become a contest to
see who blinks first.
"A lot of you know hockey players," Goodenow told the media. "You know
what they're about. You know how they feel about their profession, their
game, their principles."
Bettman portrayed the lockout as an economic necessity, repeating his
position that the league has lost a combined $1.8 billion over the past
decade under a labor pact signed following a 1994 lockout.
"We are out of gas," Bettman said. "The union has to acknowledge that
this game is sick and it has to be fixed with meaningful solutions."
The union has challenged the league's figures and said its proposal that
included a luxury tax, 5 percent drop in all salaries and revenue sharing
would go a long way toward maintaining a healthy market system. Owners
insist total player payroll must be linked to a fixed percentage of revenue.
Bettman took his best shot at courting frustrated fans.
"I believe when we fix this the right way, our fans will come back,"
Bettman said. "It may take a little time. We may have to lower ticket
prices, we may have to re-earn their hearts and affections, but it will be
worth it because our fans are the best."
The fans' side
Wednesday, the NHL Fan Association, an online organization with 22,704
members, made it clear they recognized the problem and didn't care how the
dispute gets settled as long as it happens quickly.
"Our members clearly want some form of salary cap or strict luxury tax in
place to help control teams from overspending, which hurts small-market
teams and ultimately weakens the overall league," said the statement from
the Ottawa-based group. "If a short lockout is necessary to achieve this
goal, we support it. If a long lockout occurs, fans will quickly grow even
more disenchanted with both parties' stances and their disregard for 'our
game.' "
Sharks CEO Greg Jamison, who was in New York for the NHL's board of
governors meeting, said people understand the problem "when you take the
time to sit down with fans and talk about economics."
"But they're frustrated with the process and in many cases they're not sure
they all want to hear the ins and outs of it," he said. "They just want
hockey to start."
Maria Chaves, a Sharks season ticket holder since 1995, said she has reached
the conclusion that both sides are being selfish. That won't be enough to
get her to abandon hockey, but she points out she was born near Montreal.
It's other fans she wonders about.
"I'm not a fair-weather fan," she said. "I understand both sides are
going to take time to come to an agreement. But I think fans who are not
born into hockey are just going to find something else to keep them
occupied. And when hockey returns, it's going to lose a lot of fans. And
hockey cannot really afford that."
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