Here we are on Sept. 15. No one is even feigning optimism of avoiding a lockout at this point. The only words in the endless rhetoric from both sides that have resonated with me in this whole situation are these from NHLPA head Donald Fehr: "A lockout is a choice."
This does not need to happen but for people's wanton greed. The sport has grown into a billion dollar industry with lucrative national TV contracts in both the U.S. and Canada plus a healthy following overseas. Everyone wants their golden eggs. The big-market owners have zero interest in sharing a dime more revenue with the financially-struggling clubs. The players don't want to be the ones funding it.
People involved in this situation say they feel sorry for the "little guy" who gets hurt the most if there is a prolonged lockout -- the arena workers, team ticket sales staff, etc -- yet not one of them would put their money where their mouths are. I can 100 percent guarantee there won't be a fund set up to reimburse any one who gets laid off.
The biggest hypocrisy of the whole situation is that, barely 24 hours before the start of the lockout, teams were handing out six-year contract extensions at huge money to get them in before the CBA expires and there's a lockout in which two key issues are salary rollbacks (either via increased escrow shares or outright cuts) and five-year contract limits.
Over the last year, I kept thinking that the lockout would come down to the 11th hour but there would be a resolution. The game recovered from the last lockout. The League overall is in good financial health. On the flip side, even with another salary rollback, NHL players would still be making far more money than in any other career avenue open to them.
I hoped both sides would come to their senses. Alas, that is truly the day that will never come.
It is NOT the "angry" customers that the NHL needs to be worried about. It's not the folks who create online "stop the lockout" petitions and videos. It's not the ones who go around proclaiming they're done with the NHL or the ones calling for boycots of league sponsors. Those fans always come back, time and time again. I am just as guilty as everyone else. Even if I weren't writing about the game, I'd still be watching it.
Rather, it is the longtime fans who have wearied of the cycle to the point of becoming apathetic to the NHL who might go away for good. It's the casual fan who finds something else to do and other ways to spend their disposable income, and never looks back. Alas, this group is ultimately the small minority. The casual fan ranks get replenished the next time the local team wins a playoff round.
This whole affair doesn't say much about human nature. But an NHL lockout isn't going to make the world come to an end. Just as sure as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, hockey will go on.
There will be a lockout and eventually there will be a new CBA. The NHL teams will promptly find loopholes in the supposedly "airtight" spending controls that they pushed for in the first place. When the next CBA expires, we'll go through again.
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