The NHL's lost season
Yesterday it became official--the National Hockey League cancelled the season. I think much of the blame should go to the league and the owners. Under Gary Bettman's leadership, the league expanded too quickly and, in some cases, unwisely. Part of the problem was establishing new franchises in places without established markets or potential. Nashville, Atlanta, and Miami come to mind. After all, Atlanta previously had an NHL team that did not make it there, and Nashville had only recently gotten one other pro team (the NFL's Titans). Some might feel that I am being a bit hypocritical since I am a big Dallas Stars fan. Well, Dallas got an existing franchise, the Minnesota North Stars. Dallas is also a big time pro sports town. Dallas also had and has a high number of transplants (people from other parts of the country) who were and are hockey fans. The first Stars game I went to was against the Chicago Blackhawks. The arena was sold out, and at least a third of the people there were wearing Blackhawks sweaters. Dallas has become a hockey town.
As for the owners, Tom Hicks, the owner of the Stars, in an interview on KTCK (The Ticket) in Dallas, copped to the fact that the owners have chosen to pay extremely high salaries and thus have driven the market higher and higher. The example he cited was Bill Guerin. Let me say up front I have been a big Bill Guerin fan for a long time. He is a great player. To me, he embodies everything good about hockey, and I am damn glad he is with the Stars. Still, Hicks threw a huge bag of guaranteed money at him when he did not have to. Hicks--without negotiating at all--offered Guerin a contract that was so greatly beyond anything else he had been offered that Guerin would have been crazy to say "no." There was a chance Guerin would have signed with the Stars for less money. After all, the Stars had recently won the Cup and still had plenty of really good players, yet Hicks immediately offered a huge bag of money. And remember that Tom Hicks (as owner of the Texas Rangers) is the same guy that gave Alex Rodriguez the $250 million contract.
So there was a combination of putting teams in cities where the potential for success was not good and some owners blatantly outspending others which kept some teams from getting top shelf players, which in turn kept them from winning, which then affected their revenue, which resulted in some teams being a big financial burden on the league as a whole. So while the players are not blameless in this, and while the league does have legitimate financial problems that must be addressed, the league and the owners deserve almost all the blame for creating those problems in the first place.
Overall, I am very sad there there will be no Stanley Cup awarded this year. However, I am not without hockey. Here in Wichita Falls, Texas, we have a Junior A hockey team, the Wichita Falls Wildcats. The team is making a run for the playoffs in the North American Hockey League, and I am getting to see some quality live hockey action (including teams from Frisco, Texas; Springfield, Illinois; Springfield, Missouri; Sante Fe, N.M.; Fairbanks, Alaska; Texarkana, Texas; and Belton, Texas). If anyone out there needs a hockey fix, check out the Junior leagues and the professional minor leagues. And if you are in a city that has any of those teams, go out and support them.
As for the owners, Tom Hicks, the owner of the Stars, in an interview on KTCK (The Ticket) in Dallas, copped to the fact that the owners have chosen to pay extremely high salaries and thus have driven the market higher and higher. The example he cited was Bill Guerin. Let me say up front I have been a big Bill Guerin fan for a long time. He is a great player. To me, he embodies everything good about hockey, and I am damn glad he is with the Stars. Still, Hicks threw a huge bag of guaranteed money at him when he did not have to. Hicks--without negotiating at all--offered Guerin a contract that was so greatly beyond anything else he had been offered that Guerin would have been crazy to say "no." There was a chance Guerin would have signed with the Stars for less money. After all, the Stars had recently won the Cup and still had plenty of really good players, yet Hicks immediately offered a huge bag of money. And remember that Tom Hicks (as owner of the Texas Rangers) is the same guy that gave Alex Rodriguez the $250 million contract.
So there was a combination of putting teams in cities where the potential for success was not good and some owners blatantly outspending others which kept some teams from getting top shelf players, which in turn kept them from winning, which then affected their revenue, which resulted in some teams being a big financial burden on the league as a whole. So while the players are not blameless in this, and while the league does have legitimate financial problems that must be addressed, the league and the owners deserve almost all the blame for creating those problems in the first place.
Overall, I am very sad there there will be no Stanley Cup awarded this year. However, I am not without hockey. Here in Wichita Falls, Texas, we have a Junior A hockey team, the Wichita Falls Wildcats. The team is making a run for the playoffs in the North American Hockey League, and I am getting to see some quality live hockey action (including teams from Frisco, Texas; Springfield, Illinois; Springfield, Missouri; Sante Fe, N.M.; Fairbanks, Alaska; Texarkana, Texas; and Belton, Texas). If anyone out there needs a hockey fix, check out the Junior leagues and the professional minor leagues. And if you are in a city that has any of those teams, go out and support them.
posted by WCharles @ 2/17/2005 11:13:00 AM
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