The National Hockey League has locked out its players, leaving a $2-billion industry in limbo and putting the 2004-05 regular season and playoffs in jeopardy.
It's a dispute in which fans appear to be siding more with the owners than the players. An Ipsos-Reid poll done for CTV, TSN and The Globe and Mail found that 52 per cent of Canadians blamed the players for the impasse, while only 21 per cent blamed the owners.
If the lockout lasts the entire season, it will be the first time since 1919, when an influenza epidemic cancelled the Montreal-Seattle final in mid-series, that the Stanley Cup will not be awarded.
The NHL's board of governors approved the lockout, which took effect at midnight, in a unanimous vote yesterday in New York. Commissioner Gary Bettman said that ever since it agreed to the current collective-bargaining deal, the NHL has been awash in red ink and that the only way to cure the financial woes is to implement a system of "cost certainty" that ties player salaries to revenues.
"We owe it to hockey's fans to achieve an economic system that will result in affordable ticket prices and stable franchises," Mr. Bettman said. "The very future of our game is at stake and the NHL's owners are united, as never before, determined to do everything humanly possible to bring hockey's economic system into the 21st century. We have no other choice."
The NHL players association labels the league's position as a move toward a salary cap.
Bob Goodenow, the NHLPA's executive director, described the league's decision to impose a lockout as "simply the wrong way to address the issues we are facing. The players have been prepared to compromise for a very long time and have proposed frameworks that should already have produced a deal that is fair for all.
"An honest partnership can never be achieved under the league's 'my way or the highway' approach. Partnerships are built on respect, trust and willingness to compromise. Partnerships are not built through confrontation."
The Ipsos-Reid survey of 1,000 Canadians, which has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, found that six in 10 say the team's owners are being fairer and more reasonable than the players. Half think the dispute will last long enough to cancel the 2004-05 season, but almost two-thirds agree the NHL will rebound and possibly become a better league.
"Most of the response we've been getting is that players have to get their heads out of the sand," said Dean Brown, an Ottawa Senators broadcaster who was the host yesterday afternoon on Team 1200 radio in Ottawa. "Some are saying that players have to realize that owners have a right to own or that the players are paid too much and that a salary cap is necessary as it is in any other league."
The 750 or so members of the NHL players association are coping with the lockout in a variety of ways. Some, including the Boston Bruins' Joe Thornton, are off to Europe to play. Others have committed to a new Original Stars Hockey League that is scheduled to play its first game in Barrie, Ont., on the weekend. Still others, such as the St. Louis Blues' Chris Pronger, are continuing their education. The majority, however, will sit on the sidelines until at least Christmas to see what happens.
Mr. Bettman would not speculate on a possible time frame for settling the lockout, but said that he had instructed teams that they could release their building dates for the next 30 days, on the grounds that he didn't think a new deal could be struck within the next month.
The dispute could have a wide-ranging impact on everyone from broadcasters -- including Don Cherry, who is not being paid during the lockout -- to league employees who have lost their jobs, to businesses that rely on hockey.
The first casualties were the 100 or so employees from the league's offices in New York, Toronto and Montreal who received their layoff notices in July and will be out of work as of Monday.
Just hours after the lockout vote, the CBC announced that 50 positions at the network are affected, 36 in the sports department. Nancy Lee, the head of the CBC's TV Network Sports, said the unemployed include high-profile hockey personalities such as Mr. Cherry, Bob Cole, Harry Neale, Kelly Hrudey and Greg Millen.
In addition, the NHL's referees, linesmen and part-time, off-ice officials are not being paid until after play resumes, under terms of their own collective-bargaining agreement with the league, signed in September, 2001.
Brad Marsh, the former Ottawa Senators player who operates a bar inside the Corel Centre, predicted that the lockout is "going to affect a lot of people and if it lasts long, I'm out of business."
At the heart of the dispute is how to divide the almost $2.1-billion in revenues the NHL generated during the 2003-04 season. Under Mr. Bettman's models, the players would be granted just over 50 per cent of the gross, which would reduce the average player salary to $1.3-million a season from $1.83-million. The players association called that a salary cap.
Mr. Bettman said that "flaws in the NHL salary system" were "increasingly difficult to overcome over the past several years" and argued: "We, at the National Hockey League, have done everything possible to negotiate a new collective-bargaining agreement, day in and day out, to serve the best interests of everyone involved. Sadly, those interests have not achieved their objectives."
Mr. Goodenow questioned the veracity of the NHL's financial statements.
"The league continues to make selective and distorted references to team finances," he said. "We have seen some of the NHL's data, but only after signing confidentiality agreements that prevent us from offering specific comments. As the NHL continues to claim its financial survival is at stake, it should open its books and let everyone see the teams claiming these losses. We have publicly asked the NHL to do so, but they steadfastly refuse to expose the information to the light of day."
Former NHL star Wayne Gretzky, a minority shareholder in the Phoenix Coyotes, said he would not intervene in the dispute. The last time around, Mr. Gretzky was a player and he is still held in high regard by many members of the NHLPA's rank and file.
"This is way over my head," Mr. Gretzky said. "I had a conversation with Mr. Bettman six months ago. The conversation was more on the basis of what they were going to do, how they were going to handle it.
"Quite frankly, Bob Goodenow works really hard for the union and Mr. Bettman works really hard for the owners. It's in their hands. Hopefully, they can come up with a compromise that everyone's happy with." That didn't happen.
"It is unforgivable that the union could see this bleak day approaching and not lift a finger to prevent its arrival," Mr. Bettman said.
Mr. Goodenow answered: "The players remain prepared to negotiate a fair agreement with the owners. But we need a negotiating partner who understands that agreements are the products of compromise. We do not have such a negotiating partner now."
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52% of Canadians would blame the players more if there were no season.
21% would blame the owners more.
29% would blame both sides equally.
60% think the owners are being 'more fair and reasonable.'
64% think the NHL will ultimately become a better league.