What a terrible year this is going to be. The news has been swamped with the daily body count from Iraq, the tsunami clean-up and the impending doom of Social Security.
We should have known it was coming when someone got the great idea to substitute the ailing Dick Clark with Regis Philbin and Ashlee Simpson in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. This is the year Fox banned a Super Bowl commercial featuring Mickey Rooney’s butt because it may be “sexually explicit.” Ewwww.
American news services have passed over the imminent destruction of one of our most cherished sports. Hockey is America’s fourth most popular professional sport, and the National Hockey League will make history this year by canceling an entire season due to a labor dispute. NHL players have been leading leagues in Italy and Russia while we watch the more manly sports like poker.
A man died in Toronto recently and asked to have his obituary dedicated to – I swear I’m not making this up – blasting leaders on both sides of the strike for taking away hockey while he was bedridden. How many more have to die before the NHL comes to its senses?
Last year the NHL brought in an auditor from Wall Street to assess its financial situation. The audit found the NHL lost almost half a billion dollars in the past two seasons. The National Hockey League Players’ Association rejected a payroll cap between $34.6 million and $38.6 million per team per year. Then the NHLPA offered a 24 percent pay cut across the board in December to save the season. It was rejected by the managers. The last chance meeting was set for Jan. 14, but Commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the meeting. No further meetings have been set.
Before the strike, the average player’s salary was around $2 million a year. Player salaries account for 73 percent of the NHL’s yearly revenue. The NFL has the second highest ratio at 64 percent, but those teams actually make money. The managers’ plan includes dropping player salaries to 61 percent, costing the players $260 million. The NHL’s contracts with ABC and ESPN are up for renewal, but ABC has little reason to hold onto a sport that may never recover. ESPN will always be there, but they also show professional bowling. Now there would be a strike worth following.
Many of you are thinking, “Why not use scabs?” Scabs are replacement players used during strikes. It worked for the NFL in 1987 but backfired miserably for MLB in 1994. Thanks to the Supreme Court, the law on scabs in professional sports is so hazy that both sides have little incentive to take the gamble.
The worst part is that the fans are powerless, unless we want to start donating to the poor rookie who makes only $700,000 his first year. A similar problem with overzealous unions has crippled the airline industry, with senior pilots raking in $200,000 a year. Is this an unfair jab at unions in general? Maybe, but if I wrote a column on economics no one would read it.
The fact is, these particular unions are killing our industry. The best thing to do at this point is let the NHL die. It can’t be saved. Maybe a new, purer league will rise from the ashes. One that doesn’t deal with unions.
Oh wait, that would be illegal. By the way, there are talks of the NBA striking after the end of this season.
