Monday, August 09, 2004
Hockey???
It's not easy being a hockey fan. Hockey has always been the bastard red-headed step-child of the major sports (baseball, football, and basketball), receiving the least mainstream attention and coverage on ESPN and other media outlets. And it's even less easy for me, for I am not only a hockey fan, but a New York Rangers fan as well (For those who don't know, the Rangers suck. Bad.). But this isn't about how crummy my favorite team is.
No, this is about how there may not even BE a hockey season this year. A few weeks from now, the collective bargaining agreement between the players' association and the owners expires. if they can't reach a new agreement, the players will be locked out of training camp and the season will either be severely delayed or not happen at all. As usual in pro sports, it all boils down to money. The owners want to put a salary cap in place, claiming that the teams in bigger cities have an un-fair advantage (big city=bigger crowds=more money), because they can afford to sign all the best players at premium prices, which smaller teams can't afford to do. A salary cap would theoretically put all teams on even ground. The players, naturally, do not want the salary cap for obvious reasons: the won't get paid as much. Neither side is willing to budge on the salary cap issue, threatening the season.
Here's where I climb on my soapbox for a minute. There's always a lot of grumbling amongst the sportscasters, sportswriters, and the public as well, that pro athletes get paid too much. I say hogwash. These teams are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year between ticket sales, advertising, TV deals, merchandising, and lord knows what else. If the players don't deserve their fair share, I don't know who does (I feel the same way about the escalating salaries of TV stars, by the way). Fact: The public buys tickets to see their favorite players play, and they buy T-shirts and other merchandise of those same players. The players are the ones putting their bodies on the line night after night, not seeing their families for weeks at a time. Why should a fat guy sitting up in an office in a suit get all their money? Now, I', not saying the fat guy should get nothing, I'm just saying that the players deserve more.
One other point: I can't believe for a second that nobody involved in this whole debacle has pointed out one simple thing. FACT: The team with the highest payroll in the NHL every year (I stress again EVERY YEAR) is my beloved New York Rangers. With this bloated payroll, the Rangers have managed to miss the playoffs for 7 consecutive years, no easy feat considering that 16 out 0f the 30 teams make the cut. And who won the league's prestigious championship, The Stanley Cup, this past year? The Tampa Bay Lightning, a team from one of those smaller cities (in a state where they don't even have ice, for crying out loud). Someone please explain to me again the argument about how a salary cap would make things more fair.
No, this is about how there may not even BE a hockey season this year. A few weeks from now, the collective bargaining agreement between the players' association and the owners expires. if they can't reach a new agreement, the players will be locked out of training camp and the season will either be severely delayed or not happen at all. As usual in pro sports, it all boils down to money. The owners want to put a salary cap in place, claiming that the teams in bigger cities have an un-fair advantage (big city=bigger crowds=more money), because they can afford to sign all the best players at premium prices, which smaller teams can't afford to do. A salary cap would theoretically put all teams on even ground. The players, naturally, do not want the salary cap for obvious reasons: the won't get paid as much. Neither side is willing to budge on the salary cap issue, threatening the season.
Here's where I climb on my soapbox for a minute. There's always a lot of grumbling amongst the sportscasters, sportswriters, and the public as well, that pro athletes get paid too much. I say hogwash. These teams are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year between ticket sales, advertising, TV deals, merchandising, and lord knows what else. If the players don't deserve their fair share, I don't know who does (I feel the same way about the escalating salaries of TV stars, by the way). Fact: The public buys tickets to see their favorite players play, and they buy T-shirts and other merchandise of those same players. The players are the ones putting their bodies on the line night after night, not seeing their families for weeks at a time. Why should a fat guy sitting up in an office in a suit get all their money? Now, I', not saying the fat guy should get nothing, I'm just saying that the players deserve more.
One other point: I can't believe for a second that nobody involved in this whole debacle has pointed out one simple thing. FACT: The team with the highest payroll in the NHL every year (I stress again EVERY YEAR) is my beloved New York Rangers. With this bloated payroll, the Rangers have managed to miss the playoffs for 7 consecutive years, no easy feat considering that 16 out 0f the 30 teams make the cut. And who won the league's prestigious championship, The Stanley Cup, this past year? The Tampa Bay Lightning, a team from one of those smaller cities (in a state where they don't even have ice, for crying out loud). Someone please explain to me again the argument about how a salary cap would make things more fair.
