"The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association
announced today that the Team Payroll Range established for the 2008-09 League
Year, pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, provides for a Lower
Limit of $40.7 million, an Adjusted Midpoint of $48.7 million and an Upper Limit
of $56.7 million."
1) So we ask facetiously: Who won the NHL-NHLPA labour war? The cap floor now above the max in only 4 years. Average player's salary ABOVE what it was pre-Bettman lockout, despite the 25% roll back.
2) If the league was hemorrhaging money back then, and little has changed other than a stronger CN dollar, why are revenues going up so fast?
a) Higher ticket prices
b) The NHL is now divulging more of its revenue than it did prior to becoming 'partners' with the players.
3) That said, in 4 years when this CBA expires expect another war. The owners will want to roll back the players % from 57 to something closer to 50/and or eliminate guaranteed contracts!
http://newfaux.blogspot.com/
Bobby Orr would weep. Think ticket prices will hit a plateau in the next year or two? I'd like to go to a Rangers or Bruins game in the next decade and not wipe out my 401K.
1.Crush Goodenow and his militant supporters within the PA.
2. Increase franchise values.
3. Try to make the players pay the cost for the owners bungling the last CBA.
Excellent points here, guys and very funny by the way. Salaries will once again get out of control and the large market teams will always be able to afford the high price talent not worth the inordinate amount of money the players will receive from those who can afford to buy them. Small market teams will suffer and owners will complain and want to force another work stoppage because they will say that the CBA is not fair to them.
I liken this entire situation to mortgaging your home to pay off credit card debt only to fall back into the same debt two years down the line. The NHL needs to adjust its behavior with respect to player salaries where they don't have to continue adjusting the salary cap to the right.
Hi Lyle:
I hope you are enjoying the off season.
It occurs to me that until the 2 groups, Owners and Players see the stands half empty, the game will go on it's merry way. Only then ,may [and I say may] they get the idea that all is not right in the world of hockey. Economic times being what they are and only going to get worse, I can see 1/2 empty rinks in the future. It just may be time for the owners and players to join those who are already suffering, we the fans.
It feels like hockey season here in AZ, the temperature dropped to a cool 107 today.
Salaries may be comparable but what do you think teams like Detroit and N.Y. would be spending if there was no cap?
At least now my stupid Kings are forced to spend a little more as they raise ticket prices AGAIN to field a team that probably couldn't win the Under-18 tournament.
I know what you mean TorturedKingsFan. I've been supporting this team for years but not anymore, not under AEG. All they care about are the Nokia Theatre, David Beckham, and the MLS. They should sell it to someone who cares, and as long as fans keep showing up (and they will) they have no incentive to putting a winning team on the ice. We are now in year 3 of Lombardi's 3 year plan, you tell me if it's a success or not.
Remember this(the lockout) was all about cost-certainty. I don't think anyone out there, owners, players and fans alike, ever thought about how the U.S. dollar would free-fall to where it is now so.....
Eventually, things will get back to normal and then we'll see.
TorturedKingsFan, I couldn't agree with you more, despite the cap the Rangers found a way to throw 14 mil. for Drury and Gomez last summer.
Lets not put into account the financial hit the NHL took as a result of the lockout which affected the salary-cap during the first two years! This upward trend will peak eventually, unless the NHL gets an NFL-like television contract.....Yeah right!
The NHL salary cap is complete joke! You have to look no further than Scott Gomez' 7yr 51.5mil deal with the Rangers. He made 10mil last year and only counted 7.35mil against the cap. Seriously how can anyone take a salary cap seriously when a player who has a 10mil salary for 2008 counts 7.35mil against the cap? The NHL salary cap takes the contract and divides it by the number of years to get the cap hit. What a joke!
The NHL needs a salary cap similar to the NFL where a players season salary counts against that seasons cap.
The last lock-out was about achieving labour cost certainty. The next lock-out or player strike will be about achieving revenue parity.
With player salaries tied to gross Hockey Related Revenues -- I believe it's now 56 percent HHR due to current overall revenue levels -- the owners did indeed establish a fixed percentage cost for labour, down from pre-lock-out levels of 65-75 percent of revenues (depending on whose figures you use).
Of course, the downside of a floating percentage based on gross HRR is that as new revenue streams emerge (like a new building in Pittsburgh) or as the Canadian dollar rises in value compared to the US greenback, the real dollar value of that fixed percentage goes through the roof. Plus, not all teams benefit equally from the overall increase in gross revenues: the NHL is still primarily a gate-attendance league, and the barns in Florida and Nashville, for example, are at a disadvantage compared to those in Toronto and New York.
As the North American economy continues to slump and the US dollar bleeds value, I expect to see a number of the emerging US hockey markets start to track more toward the salary floor rather than the salary ceiling. And that will ultimately push either the poor-revenue market owners or the NHLPA to demand greater revenue sharing between the teams to allow more clubs to spend towards the cap ceiling.
THAT'S something the rich-revenue market owners will resist like hades, but ultimately will have to accept for the long-term survival of the league.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on June 30th at 5:02 PM.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
