By - Kyle Malinowski
With the NHL announcing the cancellation of all November games, the lockout has revealed a major crisis that plagues every professional sport in today's world, which is how exactly the billions of dollars should be divided up between the players and the owners.
Look, strikes and lockouts suck -- period. They don't serve the fans in any aspect, because they
eliminate our entertainment and force us to choose a side between the millionaires and
billionaires.
The National Hockey League has come back strong in recent years following the cancellation of the 2004-05 campaign, but they are dangerously close to using up any goodwill they have mustered back up with the fans if this season gets cancelled, and it is looking like that may be a real possibility.
However, one of the main catalysts of the owners' staunch resolves to lockout players is the passion the fans have for the sports themselves. The owners know that in major sports, the fans will always come back because they love the games so much and couldn't bear to not see any live action for a whole year.
But if the fans ever use their power and call the owners' bluffs, they could wield tremendous blows against the owners in terms of showing them that it's the fans and their money which dictate whether or not there are billions of dollars to be divided up between the players and the owners.
The problem is, today's fans don't have enough resolve to boycott going to the games of any professional sport completely, because once a strike or lockout is over, they have their sport again and their anger subsides once the fix of it is put back into their bloodstream.
Still, players and owners in the 4 major sports should never totally assume that fans couldn't do some damage if they get mad enough and boycott some of the games to show just how much of a financial impact it can make on both the players and owners.
The point I wanted to illustrate is that strikes and lockouts and shortened or missed seasons are just going to be something we all might as well get used to every single time a collective bargaining agreement is set to expire.
Major League Baseball was the first of the 4 major sports in recent years to easily get a deal done, but baseball in the 90s still had its fair share of labor disputes, so it's not exactly like it couldn't happen again.
The fact of the matter is, strikes and lockouts will continue to occur because players want huge compensation for abusing their bodies for sport, and owners want as much money as they can get because they are billionaires, and that's just what billionaires do.
I hope I'm wrong about this and that the NFL and NBA in particular have finally learned their lessons, but I'm never going to be very optimistic.
With the NHL announcing the cancellation of all November games, the lockout has revealed a major crisis that plagues every professional sport in today's world, which is how exactly the billions of dollars should be divided up between the players and the owners.
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| Photo by: Getty Images |
The National Hockey League has come back strong in recent years following the cancellation of the 2004-05 campaign, but they are dangerously close to using up any goodwill they have mustered back up with the fans if this season gets cancelled, and it is looking like that may be a real possibility.
However, one of the main catalysts of the owners' staunch resolves to lockout players is the passion the fans have for the sports themselves. The owners know that in major sports, the fans will always come back because they love the games so much and couldn't bear to not see any live action for a whole year.
But if the fans ever use their power and call the owners' bluffs, they could wield tremendous blows against the owners in terms of showing them that it's the fans and their money which dictate whether or not there are billions of dollars to be divided up between the players and the owners.
The problem is, today's fans don't have enough resolve to boycott going to the games of any professional sport completely, because once a strike or lockout is over, they have their sport again and their anger subsides once the fix of it is put back into their bloodstream.
Still, players and owners in the 4 major sports should never totally assume that fans couldn't do some damage if they get mad enough and boycott some of the games to show just how much of a financial impact it can make on both the players and owners.
The point I wanted to illustrate is that strikes and lockouts and shortened or missed seasons are just going to be something we all might as well get used to every single time a collective bargaining agreement is set to expire.
Major League Baseball was the first of the 4 major sports in recent years to easily get a deal done, but baseball in the 90s still had its fair share of labor disputes, so it's not exactly like it couldn't happen again.
The fact of the matter is, strikes and lockouts will continue to occur because players want huge compensation for abusing their bodies for sport, and owners want as much money as they can get because they are billionaires, and that's just what billionaires do.
I hope I'm wrong about this and that the NFL and NBA in particular have finally learned their lessons, but I'm never going to be very optimistic.
There all nothing but a bunch of greedy bastards.
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