Will hockey fans have to pull these out of the closet again?
The off-season is the worst time for any sport. No one can win the waiting game, lets be honest. Anticipation grows, patience wains, and the urge to return to normalcy begins to turn to silent screams in the mind. That is how I feel as the world awaits the return of the NHL season, hockey in general.
That's not to say it hasn't been an active summer. In fact, this has been "THESummer of Free Agent Frenzy" for sports in general. The NBA saw unprecedented coverage the likes anyone has ever seen. Players going left and right for unnecessary millions. All this with the hype surrounded the big fish, LeBron LeBron (yes I'm calling him that), it took the gaze of the nation, and affected business everywhere. The end product of all the hype, media coverage, and paranoia came in the form of an awful one hour special, which could have been saved by a 4-5 word sentence (though it did spawn a great spoof by Steve Carell and Paul Rudd)
The NHL's equivalent to LeBron LeBron was Russian sniper Illya Kovalchuck. When was the last time a player of his caliber hit the free agent market? Maybe Hossa last year, but Kovie is a better shooter all together. The craze over the Russian superstar spewed rumors of his possible landing point. The Devils were one place, then the LA Kings, Russia, the New York Islanders, LA Kings, the New York Rangers, LA Kings, LA Kings (again)finally with the Devils....and now possibly the Kings again, following the rejection of the Devils mega contract.
What the NHL has done is shown that they will not take teams taking advantage of the CBA anymore. It happened already with Roberto Luongo (12-year, $64-million), Chris Pronger (7-year, $34.5-million), Marc Savard (7-year, $28.05-million), Marian Hossa (12-year, $62.8-million), and many more. A message to team's general managers that if you try to circumvent the cap (take advantage of a glaring loop-hole left in the Collective Bargaining Agreement from the Lockout), they will drag you through the mud.
I am not a fan of these 'Retirement Contracts' as they have been ruled. Personally, its just not a fair system to follow for both the team and a player (see Dipietro contract and tell me how he and the Islanders are doing). But that's not to say I agree with the arbitrator all together. Bloch ruled that the Devils 17-year, $102-million offer to Kovalchuck, was legal under the current CBA. It did not circumvent the cap. What he did rule though was that it was a 'retirement contract' and ruled the speculation of the NHL, that Kovie would not play out until the end of his contract at age 44, due to a look at averages.
While there is a sense of what a contract probably should and shouldn't be, having the league give a years limit to contracts should not be the case. Control should not be given by Gary Bettman or any of the higher ups in the league. They have to be sure the contract is fair for both parties.
What does this mean for the NHL Players Association, who once again, falls short to the NHL? It should be a wake-up call that they need to get their act together. They do not have a head man in charge, but an adviser. Former head of the baseball players union, Donald Fehr, seems the new likely candidate to be the executive directer of the NHL Players Association. For those who don't know, he's the person that made Major League Baseball's Players Association what it is now.
But you look across the sports spectrum, and within the major four sports, there are growing issues that might lead to work stoppage. As the weeks go by, it seems more and more that the NFL might go into a lockout for the 2011-2012 season. It happened before, it can surely happen again, and it could be worse this time. The NBA also has their negotiations coming up, and hell, you never know if the two sides cannot find a middle ground. The NHL is in 2012, and the MLB is years from now.
Here's the point I have thought about: What if all four of the major teams were canceled for one year. No Pro Hockey, No Pro Basketball, Baseball, and Football, for one year! What would happen to the American Sports landscape?
As fans of athletic events, they'd cater to the next level of that sport: Minor league baseball, the United Football League, the American Hockey League, probably college basketball, but even then, there's an argument to say college basketball is better than the NBA. You would see soccer, fighting sports (MMA & boxing), maybe Lacrosse, and Tennis/Golf start to see a rise in popularity.
Overall, fans of the Big Four sports would suffer. Nothing to discuss at the water cooler, no get togethers to see the game at Millers Ale House or your pal's house, no motivation to slack off and play hooky from work. Sports businesses (media & sales) begin to die. Hell, maybe that's what the Mayans were predicting when the calendar ended on 12/21/2012; the day American Sports changed!
Obviously that will not happen, and the actual 2012 Apocalypse is up in the air (the movie 2012 has made me believe its not happening instead of the other).
However, would it be the end for that sports league, or possibly a crippling move?
We saw how it hurt hockey. Football is probably the only sport that could pick up where it left off. It's a billion dollar business with hands in billions of cookie jars (Cookie Monster cries reading this), and has so much support (fan-ship & sponsorship) where it can survive and still have people come back to it. Plus, football is apart of the American way of life, especially for those between the East Coast & West Coast.
To me, the NBA and MLB (especially Major League Baseball) would be hurt from a season-lockout. Basketball has faced skepticism and controversy with the Ref Scandal, and Commissioner Stern isn't the most popular man. The Association needs a new Collective Bargaining Agreement as well. As for the MLB, the past decade wasn't a nice time for Bud Selig. Dubbed the 'Steroid Era', the sport has suffered a scar it might not recover from. While the MLBPA is the strongest of the four sports, that could also be a bad thing for the league itself, as the players have the most power when the two sides go back to the negotiating table. Instant Replay will be a hot topic for years to come.
Whether it would be in the shape hockey was after their lockout....its hard to say. Both basketball and baseball are more entwined with American sports culture (sadly)....(see the college sports for example and tell me when's the last time people were all giggity for the Frozen Four over college Final Four & college World Series).
So to sum it up my thoughts:
NFL could have a work stoppage next season. The players and owners are not on the same page right now, and that rift is still growing.
The NBA does not look bleak, but there has to be a change in the CBA. Anything could happen between now and 2012.
The NHL has a lot to lose if they suffer their third lockout. Two words: Game Over. They've reached the point they were at before 2004. That reason alone should be a driving force to find a middle ground.
MLB is in no danger right now, but the seeds are rooted for the owners to try and come out swinging.
All four of them iced for a year=BAD THINGS!
