Tux of Borg Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 Why is the NFL the only sport that has its stevestojan together? They have a reasonable salary cap, and every team has the ability to be competitive. They couldn't ask for a better minor league system then the NCAA. The NCAA trains, develops and promotes these prospects for free. Then you have MLB, where teams in smaller markets are going bankrupt. The NHL is going to be locked out for a long time. And then their is the NBA, which has turned into a street ball joke.
envirojeff Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 The one sport that can't afford to take a black eye (not ment to be funny..). Who to you support - The rich owners or the rich players. RIP NHL ! Jeff
turd ferguson Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 on whos part? both? Whats wrong? GREED 35129[/snapback]
KD in CA Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 Because the NFL is the only group that has an ownership that buys into the collective good of the sport and they are the only league that doesn't have an out of control union.
Realist Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 on whos part? both? 35133[/snapback] Definitely Both.
WWVaBeach Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 I agree that it's both that are greedy. In most parts of the country NHL Hockey is just a little more popular than the WNBA.
LabattBlue Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 Both parties are at fault. First of all you have the George Steinbrenners of the NHL who have been jacking up salaries for the last 5-10 years in an attempt to BUY a Stanley Cup. Then you have the players who now expect all owners to pony up the kind of money being handed out by the aforementioned George's! As a result of this, fans are asked to pay outrageous ticket prices for a game that is a shell of it former self. You go to a game hoping to see great skating, high skill levels and hitting, but instead you are much more likely to see 60 minutes of clutching & grabbing in what amounts to wrestling on ice. The NHL has been a disaster under Gary Bettman. Go back to the fuggin' NBA you hack!!
dib Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 I still have hockey. I can watch my son play. These kids play because they love the sport.
FTW_BillsFan Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 The one sport that can't afford to take a black eye (not ment to be funny..). Who to you support - The rich owners or the rich players. RIP NHL ! Jeff 35124[/snapback] Owners all the way.
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 I think part of the issue arises because as a society we have a commitment to a free-market and advocate a laissez affaire approach to business and society weith as few limitations on the market as possible. However, we are discovering in the business of sports that there have to be limitations on the free-market and agreed on restrictions in the marketplace to produce the best sports competition. If we really pursued a free-market in sports it would be more like the MLB where George Steinbrenner has decided to spend a large amount of dollars putting together a team while others choose only to spend smaller amounts for there own reasons. Even the MLB has many restrictions (for example it is illegal to sign development contracts with foreign or domestic child labor no matter how fast they pitch) on the market beyond letting the buyer beware, but MLB and the NHL are no where near the market restrictions which are a big part of producing a good product in the NFL. It was a tough road for the NFL to get to this point. it required a strike in the mid-80s where the owners totally crushed the player's union. However, the effect of this was that the player's union saw Gene Upshaw and the players take over after Ed Garvey and the union lost big time. Under Upshaw (with the help of a lot of lawyers and learned folks) the players made the threat that they would decertify and eliminate their union and force the NFL to actually negotiate with individual players in a free market. With surpirising quickness, the nFL realized that it could never produce a good product or even survive in a free market. The owners and players in the form of the NFL and NFLPA became a partnership rather than combatants. The end result of this control and restriction within the marketplace is that the NFL has a better product and is making more money than ever before. All pro sports are going through some version of finding there way to an operating partnership between the source of product (the workers or players) and the source of capital (the owners). This is the fight going on in the NHL right now. Who knows what the eventual outcome will be. However, my guess is that given modern communications and other technology and the ability to distribute product and get paid for it being n essence democratized like never before, that the owners as sources of capital are becoming outmoded and some form of the workers (players) actually organizing to run their own businesses will take place.
BuffalOhio Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 Because the NFL is the only group that has an ownership that buys into the collective good of the sport and they are the only league that doesn't have an out of control union. 35134[/snapback] Not to mention the Billion dollar TV contract that pays for everything. The NFL is in great shape because of it's popularity, which the advertisers are more-than-willing to pay for.
BuffalOhio Posted September 17, 2004 Posted September 17, 2004 on whos part? both? 35133[/snapback] The owners let the salaries get out of hand, and now they're doing what they have to do to reign them in. I wish they could get this worked out, because I absolutely love hockey. I don't blame the owners for trying to control costs. All business do that. I blame the players for not giving in and realizing that the only pro league they have available to them is the NHL. It's not greed on the players part. It's stubbornness.
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