Hockey Strike is Over

[tstein7240]

I know I am an odd ball here.. .but I miss it. Still say, hockey is a great "in-person" sport... especially with lower bowl seats and the playoffs are the best.

Hopefully the things they are doing will help the sport long term. They have learned that it is not a sport that will get them a big buck TV deal and the pay should take this into consideration.

Also, I like that they are tying the salaries to revenue. Basically like a real company when they get an end-of-year bonus based on how the company does. In theory, it will make them more accountable to help the teams survive.

Finally... some of these proposed rule changes "should" add some excitement. Now if they will finally start calling all the clutching, the star players can be stars.

[weezerua]

Wow, this sure is generating a lot of talk on the boards so far. Hockey has some work to do.

[Jason Scheer]

Hockey is one of the better if not the nest sport to watch in person. With that being said it will be hard if not impossible to generate a new fan base because they were a laughingstockl. The only people that missed it were the big hockey fans and those will most likely return but to what? The game needs some improvemens if it wants to bring in fans

[tstein7240]

My guess is the players are out in the community big time.

Dallas and Denver might be a bit odd (not sure about cities like Phx, LA, Tampa), but there was a nice group of fans who did not grow up on the game. In Dallas, games were a "place to be seen" with the pretty crowd and corporate sponsors. Also, youth hockey has been growing big in Dallas. These are the groups they need to get back... especially the families

[wassupcats]

My guess is the players are out in the community big time.

Dallas and Denver might be a bit odd (not sure about cities like Phx, LA, Tampa), but there was a nice group of fans who did not grow up on the game. In Dallas, games were a "place to be seen" with the pretty crowd and corporate sponsors. Also, youth hockey has been growing big in Dallas. These are the groups they need to get back... especially the families

Tampa is the defending Stanley Cup Champion so there goes that argument. LA will get behind their team again once they have a recognizable face to fill the stands (obviously no one can ever do what Gretz did, but they need someone big for the market... maybe Jarome Iginla), and Phoenix has a new arena with a young, talented team. Those markets are fine. What you need to worry about are Columbus (yes talented, but doesnt draw like Phoenix has the ability to. For anyone who doesn't think the Phx can draw, did any of you go to the Whiteouts? Case settled.) and Calgary (the Canadian dollar issue's creeping back up).

Denver is one of the best (top three) hockey towns this country has (Detroit, Philly being the other two) and Dallas like you said is just the place to be. They're not actually hockey fans but kind of like an LA baseball crowd.

Hockey will be back in force. The lottery should take place some time around the 21st of June, with the bidding for Sydney Crosby (excuse me, draft) taking place near the 30th. Free agency should begin some time soon after that and the league will begin to roll. The hard cap is set at $35 mil and I believe the floor is $21 million.

It's about time it was "official"

[ZONACAT]

I really think that hockey will have a hard time coming back in Dallas because of the backlash against Tom Hicks. The Rangers are having problems with attendance because of him and it should have the same impact in hockey. Unless he lowers prices considerably, it won't be a smooth transition.

Most sports fans in the know hate Hicks and won't attend just because of him. I know I'm not.

[Class of 1990]

We think the hockey players made out great with this deal.

signed,

Native American Indians






The NBA players should be happy they got their deal.

Roenick (http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-nhllockout&prov=ap&type=lgns)

``To be totally honest, I really don't care what the deal is anymore. All I care about is getting the game back on the ice,'' Flyers star Jeremy Roenick said in a telephone interview during a celebrity golf event in Nevada.

``I think the deal is not great for the players. It is definitely an owner-friendly deal. For the last 10 years, the players have made a lot of money and now we are in a position where everybody is going to make money,'' he said. ``Unfortunately, it had to take a whole year to get to a point where we could have been last year.''

Feb talks (http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-nhllockoutchronology&prov=ap&type=lgns)

Feb. 10 -- NHL, NHLPA part ways, after bleak assessment of latest failed talks.

Feb. 14 -- The NHL schedules a news conference for Feb. 16 during which it plans to cancel the season. Then, what looks like a breakthrough: The league drops its demand for a link between league revenues and player costs, and the players' association agrees to accept a salary cap during talks in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Feb. 15 -- The sides trade a flurry of proposals and letters, but could never agree on a cap. The owners bump up their offer of a $40 million cap to $42.5 million; the players counterproposal is for $49 million, which the league rejects out-of-hand.

Feb. 16 -- Bettman holds news conference as scheduled, cancels season.

End result:
The expected salary cap likely will have a ceiling of $39 million and a minimum around $22 million.

Player salaries will not exceed 54 percent of league-wide revenues, expected to be around $1.8 billion. Players will also put money into escrow, and after each season that will be used to balance out the set percentage based on actual revenues.

[midwestcat]

Hockey will have problems on mutiple fronts. The first being that a lot of teams just don't draw enough fans (bad markets, etc). The second being lack of TV audience. Don't know how they'll overcome those issues because they've been dealing with them for a while now, but a good start would be a huge turnover in how the league is managed. Need to get some new people in there with new ideas.

[wassupcats]

Two words: Sydney. Crosby.

The future is bright. So bright in fact.. :cool:

[Itamicbomb]

I'm not optimistic about the game next year (in terms of business) but Crosby developing will hopefully do for hockey what Ripken's streak and the homerun chase did for baseball.

[tstein7240]

interesting... the Stars have supposedly sold 200 season ticket packages the last couple days.

[wassupcats]

I'm not optimistic about the game next year (in terms of business) but Crosby developing will hopefully do for hockey what Ripken's streak and the homerun chase did for baseball.

Or what Gretzky did for the game in the early 90s. If anyone's going to break my records, it's going to be him.