Like a high school guidance counselor explaining the real world to the public school kid who has no real potential to the real world, all of hockey's fans' dreams were crushed like an ant by a quarrelsome boot today when the NHLPA offered three different counterproposals which were quickly dismissed like a nerd offering up date suggestions to the high school beauty queen (we can either see "The Avengers", play Starcraft 2, or look at the stars...through a telescope). Also, I'll stop the high school analogies.
The NHLPA offered three options. The first offered a 50/50 split in revenues by year three, with a quicker upturn if growth were to keep growing exponentially (eventually, the players hope to be able to divide eleventy billion dollars). The second would be a 50/50 split by the fifth year, which would save the league $854 million dollars according to the players (they also stated the owners could save that much by taking some tips from "Extreme Couponers"). The third option would be an immediate 50/50 split, provided all existing contractual obligations are paid in full, resulting in a 13% post lockout salary cut, but an immediate salary gain of infinity percent.
Gary Bettman reportedly stated he was "thoroughly disappointed" with the counteroffers, commenting that he and the players were "not speaking the same language". To be fair, the counteroffer was written in a combination of English, French, Russian, Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, and the Sedin's secret twinspeak. None of this bodes well at all for well for fans of hockey, the collateral damage in this fray. I half expect the next offer by the owners will be salaries paid in Groupons, with player families getting slightly discounted tickets to games, and players getting all the waffle cones they can eat (up to three per player per season)!
My hopes were burned to the ground by the pyromaniac Boy Scout that is Gary Bettman.
The NHLPA offered three options. The first offered a 50/50 split in revenues by year three, with a quicker upturn if growth were to keep growing exponentially (eventually, the players hope to be able to divide eleventy billion dollars). The second would be a 50/50 split by the fifth year, which would save the league $854 million dollars according to the players (they also stated the owners could save that much by taking some tips from "Extreme Couponers"). The third option would be an immediate 50/50 split, provided all existing contractual obligations are paid in full, resulting in a 13% post lockout salary cut, but an immediate salary gain of infinity percent.
Gary Bettman reportedly stated he was "thoroughly disappointed" with the counteroffers, commenting that he and the players were "not speaking the same language". To be fair, the counteroffer was written in a combination of English, French, Russian, Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, and the Sedin's secret twinspeak. None of this bodes well at all for well for fans of hockey, the collateral damage in this fray. I half expect the next offer by the owners will be salaries paid in Groupons, with player families getting slightly discounted tickets to games, and players getting all the waffle cones they can eat (up to three per player per season)!
My hopes were burned to the ground by the pyromaniac Boy Scout that is Gary Bettman.
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