Making Things Whole
Posted 4:58 AM ET | Comments 1
I used to be a member of this site about 2 years ago, but mostly it was to troll the heck out of Eklund (and I still do believe he pulls a lot of things out of his backside), and then I grew up.
The latest news on the Hockey Front has been the NHLPA wanting their Contracts to be "Made Whole", which from any standpoint it should be done like this. A lot of the GM's spent a lot of time before the lockout handing out contracts like lollipops. As is their right to do. Thus I bring you my idea for how things should work, a new CBA to be forged. Who is going to get screwed? Everyone but the FANS.
HRR - Hockey Related Revenue:
Right now, HRR is pretty much all the money the Owners make from their team. This can be ticket sales, food sales, parking lot tickets. The whole shebang that the OWNERS Make. I want you to keep this in mind here. My HRR Model accounts for a real HRR. All the money that the owners make and all the money that the PLAYERS also make -not counting their salaries-. This means all those big checks that come in from Bauer, CCM, Reebok that players like Sidney Crosby make. THIS IS HRR TOO. That's right. Without the NHL, Sid wouldn't be getting major kickbacks from shoe, skate, gatorade and hockey stick manufacturers. None of that would happen. So the players have to contribute to HRR not only on the ice as part of the show, but off of it as well. You don't see some dink like Alexander Burrows getting a multi-million dollar deal from Speedo for diving goggles playing hockey, do you?
I want HRR to only be counted after things such as the cushy private jets, nice hotels, paid meal tickets, etc. The owners shouldn't have to solely foot the bill for this 'perk' for their precious employees. This should come out of HRR before it gets calculated.
There. HRR has been 'defined'.
The Contracts issue themselves.
Owners want things differently. Fine. The cap is in place, it will not be changed and can not move more than 5% +/- between seasons. We'll base the cap at 50 million per season for the first 3 seasons of the CBA and will not be changed. After the 3 seasons, depending on revenue increase or decreases, based on the original 50 mil, 5% +/- on a sliding scale. This will keep the percentages down somewhat between the owners and the players into reasonable levels of profit for the owners, and the players will be able to earn more down the road. The Make Whole portion the owners have to foot on ANY contracts that are already signed. These contracts count against the cap with a formula that needs to be determined in percentile against new contracts. All players under contract get PAID their full contract value, but only counts partially against the cap. All new contracts must fit under the cap. So we'll say right now all signed players salaries only count 75% of their value vs. the Cap. All new contracts count 100% and all contracts/extensions thereafter.
The HRR Banana Splits -
This was my toughest concern, but here is where I'm voting to screw the owners, the players, everyone but 'US' the fans. HRR is broken down this way. 40% goes to the players, 40% goes to the owners. And the 20% is used to NOT PAINT "THANK YOU FANS ON THE ICE" but to bring down ticket and concessions prices at every NHL rink period. To make it more affordable for everyone to see hockey and potentially increase the revenue and fan base. Decreasing the price of NHL Center Ice to something reasonable. To garner more interest. Each side gives up 10% of the HRR 50/50 to promote the game better by reducing the costs the fans have to deal with. Sure, we'll pay 200$ for that Reebok Jersey! But it'll be a cold day in hell that I spend more than 150$ for NHL Center Ice package again through Comcast or the iPhone/iPad/NHL App access.
See, the last 5 years I've shelled 180$ to either Comcast or the NHL Directly for Center Ice, and last year for the App that let me watch, and I want you to read this carefully "ALL OF THE NHL GAMES". This however is not true. So many games were blacked out here and there. It wasn't all. More like 85% of the games were available. I found this website online last year and was able to actually stream a feed of these games that were blacked out.
So how does this sound NHL and NHLPA? Since you can't seem to "Make Whole" this coming Season for me. I'm going to NOT pay for NHL Center Ice or Season Ticket. I'm going to stream all the games and you will not be making ANY HRR dollars from my pocket. Who will that hurt? You. Both of You. I've given you my money, I've gone to games in Chicago and Denver and the level of butthurt I have for paying 100+$ for a nosebleed seat to barely see the game and another 50$ for beer AND a light snack. Not happening until you sort your priorities out. Your priority should be the fans.
I want it noted that I do side with the owners in the grand scheme of this equation. The players are simply employees and the players whine that there would be no NHL without them. I beg to differ. There are a lot of players out there not in the NHL that would give their left Manny for a shot to play in the NHL every night for half what the current 'employees' get paid. I go to a lot of Portland Winterhawks games. How much? 20$ to sit at the glass and 6 bucks for 16oz of decent PNW beer selection. Quality of the product? I'd say better than half of the on ice value of an NHL game.
What would I pay for good NHL Seats? Take the base on the numbers above.
So what's it gonna be turkeys? You can have my HRR if you can quit acting like babies. Just remember, without the players, there would still be a league. Without the owners? Well... you're just another Kenmore Salesman at Sears and there are plenty of other guys out there who wouldn't mind a shot.
There are plenty of other little issues that can be handled. Like prevent front loaded/back loaded contracts and getting rid of all the stupid little loopholes the better off owners use to try to pry players out of places because of the money issue. The biggest deal is protecting the little owners from the bigger money owners and making sure all of the teams in the league are able or capable of turning a profit and that the entire pie gets shared among ALL of the teams and all of the players. So that everyone is making a buck and we're paying those bucks to enjoy it too. That means everyone has to take a pay cut. We already took ours by losing one season already and part of this one.
Suck it up. Fix this. Give us our ice time. You're all losing money. The fans aren't.
The latest news on the Hockey Front has been the NHLPA wanting their Contracts to be "Made Whole", which from any standpoint it should be done like this. A lot of the GM's spent a lot of time before the lockout handing out contracts like lollipops. As is their right to do. Thus I bring you my idea for how things should work, a new CBA to be forged. Who is going to get screwed? Everyone but the FANS.
HRR - Hockey Related Revenue:
Right now, HRR is pretty much all the money the Owners make from their team. This can be ticket sales, food sales, parking lot tickets. The whole shebang that the OWNERS Make. I want you to keep this in mind here. My HRR Model accounts for a real HRR. All the money that the owners make and all the money that the PLAYERS also make -not counting their salaries-. This means all those big checks that come in from Bauer, CCM, Reebok that players like Sidney Crosby make. THIS IS HRR TOO. That's right. Without the NHL, Sid wouldn't be getting major kickbacks from shoe, skate, gatorade and hockey stick manufacturers. None of that would happen. So the players have to contribute to HRR not only on the ice as part of the show, but off of it as well. You don't see some dink like Alexander Burrows getting a multi-million dollar deal from Speedo for diving goggles playing hockey, do you?
I want HRR to only be counted after things such as the cushy private jets, nice hotels, paid meal tickets, etc. The owners shouldn't have to solely foot the bill for this 'perk' for their precious employees. This should come out of HRR before it gets calculated.
There. HRR has been 'defined'.
The Contracts issue themselves.
Owners want things differently. Fine. The cap is in place, it will not be changed and can not move more than 5% +/- between seasons. We'll base the cap at 50 million per season for the first 3 seasons of the CBA and will not be changed. After the 3 seasons, depending on revenue increase or decreases, based on the original 50 mil, 5% +/- on a sliding scale. This will keep the percentages down somewhat between the owners and the players into reasonable levels of profit for the owners, and the players will be able to earn more down the road. The Make Whole portion the owners have to foot on ANY contracts that are already signed. These contracts count against the cap with a formula that needs to be determined in percentile against new contracts. All players under contract get PAID their full contract value, but only counts partially against the cap. All new contracts must fit under the cap. So we'll say right now all signed players salaries only count 75% of their value vs. the Cap. All new contracts count 100% and all contracts/extensions thereafter.
The HRR Banana Splits -
This was my toughest concern, but here is where I'm voting to screw the owners, the players, everyone but 'US' the fans. HRR is broken down this way. 40% goes to the players, 40% goes to the owners. And the 20% is used to NOT PAINT "THANK YOU FANS ON THE ICE" but to bring down ticket and concessions prices at every NHL rink period. To make it more affordable for everyone to see hockey and potentially increase the revenue and fan base. Decreasing the price of NHL Center Ice to something reasonable. To garner more interest. Each side gives up 10% of the HRR 50/50 to promote the game better by reducing the costs the fans have to deal with. Sure, we'll pay 200$ for that Reebok Jersey! But it'll be a cold day in hell that I spend more than 150$ for NHL Center Ice package again through Comcast or the iPhone/iPad/NHL App access.
See, the last 5 years I've shelled 180$ to either Comcast or the NHL Directly for Center Ice, and last year for the App that let me watch, and I want you to read this carefully "ALL OF THE NHL GAMES". This however is not true. So many games were blacked out here and there. It wasn't all. More like 85% of the games were available. I found this website online last year and was able to actually stream a feed of these games that were blacked out.
So how does this sound NHL and NHLPA? Since you can't seem to "Make Whole" this coming Season for me. I'm going to NOT pay for NHL Center Ice or Season Ticket. I'm going to stream all the games and you will not be making ANY HRR dollars from my pocket. Who will that hurt? You. Both of You. I've given you my money, I've gone to games in Chicago and Denver and the level of butthurt I have for paying 100+$ for a nosebleed seat to barely see the game and another 50$ for beer AND a light snack. Not happening until you sort your priorities out. Your priority should be the fans.
I want it noted that I do side with the owners in the grand scheme of this equation. The players are simply employees and the players whine that there would be no NHL without them. I beg to differ. There are a lot of players out there not in the NHL that would give their left Manny for a shot to play in the NHL every night for half what the current 'employees' get paid. I go to a lot of Portland Winterhawks games. How much? 20$ to sit at the glass and 6 bucks for 16oz of decent PNW beer selection. Quality of the product? I'd say better than half of the on ice value of an NHL game.
What would I pay for good NHL Seats? Take the base on the numbers above.
So what's it gonna be turkeys? You can have my HRR if you can quit acting like babies. Just remember, without the players, there would still be a league. Without the owners? Well... you're just another Kenmore Salesman at Sears and there are plenty of other guys out there who wouldn't mind a shot.
There are plenty of other little issues that can be handled. Like prevent front loaded/back loaded contracts and getting rid of all the stupid little loopholes the better off owners use to try to pry players out of places because of the money issue. The biggest deal is protecting the little owners from the bigger money owners and making sure all of the teams in the league are able or capable of turning a profit and that the entire pie gets shared among ALL of the teams and all of the players. So that everyone is making a buck and we're paying those bucks to enjoy it too. That means everyone has to take a pay cut. We already took ours by losing one season already and part of this one.
Suck it up. Fix this. Give us our ice time. You're all losing money. The fans aren't.
Sadly, there's only 3-4 lines to comment - which is way too little to pick apart the flaws in this. I like the passion, though.