Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 6, 2013 Share #126 Posted January 6, 2013 Hmm... Now I'm debating if I should renew my NHL Center Ice package this season... During the winter months I'm either watching hockey, out drinking or out somewhere enjoying the cold weather. Part of that has been taken away with this damn strike and I've realized how much I pay for cable when there is really not much to watch. At least I've taken the opportunity to learn more about the history of the game through NHL Network's history segments going waayyyy back, but I just love the game... I mean I'll watch just about anything hockey and have been since I was a little kid... Was mesmerized by the game as a 9 year old and still am as a grown up... One thing is certain... I am NOT going to any games this year. I wonder if my buddy will get his season tickets for the Devils though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share #127 Posted January 6, 2013 Hmm... Now I'm debating if I should renew my NHL Center Ice package this season... During the winter months I'm either watching hockey, out drinking or out somewhere enjoying the cold weather. Part of that has been taken away with this damn strike and I've realized how much I pay for cable when there is really not much to watch. At least I've taken the opportunity to learn more about the history of the game through NHL Network's history segments going waayyyy back, but I just love the game... I mean I'll watch just about anything hockey and have been since I was a little kid... Was mesmerized by the game as a 9 year old and still am as a grown up... One thing is certain... I am NOT going to any games this year. I wonder if my buddy will get his season tickets for the Devils though... Its your call VG8. I am sure by time the predicted 50 game or so season starts(I am sure a possible 2013 Cup Final could be as late as June 30)you be back into it. Opening Nights will still sell out in majority of the league. It's game 2-10 that will be worth watching to see if how empty seats & fan reaction/backlash. PS Just saw an online article that the NHL Players are on verge of playing in 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. However that will be a separte deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 6, 2013 Share #128 Posted January 6, 2013 Its your call VG8. I am sure by time the predicted 50 game or so season starts(I am sure a possible 2013 Cup Final could be as late as June 30)you be back into it. Opening Nights will still sell out in majority of the league. It's game 2-10 that will be worth watching to see if how empty seats & fan reaction/backlash. PS Just saw an online article that the NHL Players are on verge of playing in 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. However that will be a separte deal. Well like some folks said in the article, the package should be given for free or severely reduced for this season because 50 of whatever amount of games they can squeeze in this season is a joke and at this point I've sort of been out of the whole groove so to speak but I certainly am not purchasing any tickets. Sometimes I'd go and get say a $65.00 ticket for good seats, have a bite beforehand somewhere and make a day out of it but certainly not this season. I was so looking forward to the new season after last year and this lockout has been a real disappointment, even though I side with the NHLPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Far Rock Depot Posted January 6, 2013 Share #129 Posted January 6, 2013 Looks like the puck might drop this year after all!!!!!!!! its gonna be like the '95 season all over again, but i dont care. Im happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share #130 Posted January 6, 2013 Here the link for the man both Bettman/Management and Fehr/NHLPA credit with saving the 2012-'13 season and perhaps the future of NHL. Give Beckenbaugh season tickets/stanley cup finals tickets for the next 25 years. http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2013-01-06/nhl-lockout-over-scot-beckenbaugh-mediator-schedule-gary-bettman-donald-fehr?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing8%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D253349 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted January 7, 2013 Share #131 Posted January 7, 2013 Looks like the puck might drop this year after all!!!!!!!! its gonna be like the '95 season all over again, but i dont care. Im happy! dunno whether to be happy or pissed. But at least it's a chance to see the new 'improved' rangers take to the ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share #132 Posted January 7, 2013 Assuming the new cba contract (it's for 10 years so no more work stoppages for at least a decade)the season may start on Monday Jan 14 (Martin Luther King Jr Day in US) or Tuesday the 15th. It would be a 50 game season and all games this season (other than the Cup Finals) would within the conference only. Meaning East vs. East and West vs. West. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted January 7, 2013 Share #133 Posted January 7, 2013 Good. I think that's perfectly fine all teams playing in their own conference. Minimize travel and puts more importance on winning their own conference. I do think that eventually the NHL needs to contract at least 2 teams and cut the losses of the teams with the worst attendance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share #134 Posted January 7, 2013 Good. I think that's perfectly fine all teams playing in their own conference. Minimize travel and puts more importance on winning their own conference. I do think that eventually the NHL needs to contract at least 2 teams and cut the losses of the teams with the worst attendance. While contraction may not be the worst for NHL, it wont happen. More realstic idea is cough cough move a team like Phoenix to Quebec City. Or if Bettman and NBC/Comcast demands it stay in US, move to somewhere like Seattle or the upper midwest like milwaukee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 7, 2013 Share #135 Posted January 7, 2013 While contraction may not be the worst for NHL, it wont happen. More realstic idea is cough cough move a team like Phoenix to Quebec City. Or if Bettman and NBC/Comcast demands it stay in US, move to somewhere like Seattle or the upper midwest like milwaukee. Phoenix is not going anywhere. The NHL bought the club and operated it until it found a suitable owner with money. That was the problem and it was the same issue in Dallas. If they really wanted to move the club, they wouldn't have bought it to begin with. Unlike the Thrashers, the Coyotes have a decent fan base and have gone to the playoffs. The fans in Atlanta just didn't have any interest even when they did make the playoffs or played decently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted January 7, 2013 Share #136 Posted January 7, 2013 But couldn't the league buy a team with an intention to contract it? I don't think it can be done unilaterally. So if all the other owners votes to contract they would be responsible to pay off the amount to take on the displaced personel etc. At least that how I think it would work regarding the MLB. But if the situation in Arizona and Dallas was just about finding a new owner, then ok. As long as the fanbase is there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 7, 2013 Share #137 Posted January 7, 2013 But couldn't the league buy a team with an intention to contract it? I don't think it can be done unilaterally. So if all the other owners votes to contract they would be responsible to pay off the amount to take on the displaced personel etc. At least that how I think it would work regarding the MLB. But if the situation in Arizona and Dallas was just about finding a new owner, then ok. As long as the fanbase is there... The NHL doesn't want to buy teams... That situation in Phoenix was a last ditch effort to save the team from collapse and having to relocate. They've got the fan base there and that arena is fairly new so it will bring in the revenue needed to sustain the team and allow for the sport to grow in the area, so long as ticket sales are good and the luxury suites sell. Believe it or not owners becoming financially cash strapped is becoming a new norm. You'd be shocked to know that the NJ Devils have been having serious financial issues, even with the new arena, strong fan base and the fact that the Devils have won several cups and went to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. The new thing these days is folks buying stakes in a team so that's why I think this will become more and more common. Too many hands in the pot as opposed to in the past. In any event, the goal of the commissioner and the NHL is to increase the fan base in new markets and gain market share in areas where there is potential growth and also ensure that markets in which they already have a base remain solid. They already know for example that Canada is a given, but they want more of the market share in terms of here in the US and want to become a major player with the other major sports here (NBA, NFL and MLB). Having the Coyotes relocate to Canada would not have been good overall for the NHL's goals and that's why they stepped in and bought the team until a viable owner came in. In the case of the Devils, I believe the NHL stepped in and advanced the Devils money to meet their financial obligations. It's important to note that Bettman has expanded revenues to 3 billion annually for the NHL, so this is yet another reason why this lockout was a set back. Growth in Europe has also been huge and folks over there are becoming more and more interested as more Europeans enter the league and the NHL makes the games more accessible to view there. It's also interesting to note that you now have Americans being drafted in the NHL from areas in the US that are not known to be hockey areas and this in turn can help the sport grow further in terms of popularity because you'll have kids watching and playing hockey instead of say baseball or football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share #138 Posted January 7, 2013 VG8 i been to Phoenix. That is NFL/College Footbal country first and foremost. Also if they in playoffs the NBA Suns and Baseball Diamondbacks as well. If Bettman wants to grow the sport in the US IMO, places like Milwaukee, and the Pacific Northwest like Portland and Seattle would be better fits for teams. Yes there people who have moved from the northwest and midwest for arizona but i am not sure it's enough for a full time NHL team. For Dallas i agree with trying to save. After their first 10 years from leaving Minnesota the Stars in Texas had a long sellout streak. Plus winning the 1999 Cup did not help either lol. Vg8 unlike you i been to much of the sunbelt and will never be a hotbed for hockey. The only sunbelt cities that should have NHL teams (not including the LA Kings/Anaheim Ducks)IMO in no order should be Dallas, Tampa and North Carolina. Not sure on Nashville as they only been in playoffs a couple of times after being a mostly last place club since joinining the nhl circa 1999. Miami/South Fla. if they did not have their own buliding(they were in same buliding with NBA's Heat for while)IMO should not also have a team. So VG8 how you know every major city in US sunbelt can have a NHL team? I been to most of south and the three cities i mention are the only ones i mention. Why not the upper midwest and Seattle or Portland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 7, 2013 Share #139 Posted January 7, 2013 VG8 i been to Phoenix. That is NFL/College Footbal country first and foremost. Also if they in playoffs the NBA Suns and Baseball Diamondbacks as well. If Bettman wants to grow the sport in the US IMO, places like Milwaukee, and the Pacific Northwest like Portland and Seattle would be better fits for teams. Yes there people who have moved from the northwest and midwest for arizona but i am not sure it's enough for a full time NHL team. For Dallas i agree with trying to save. After their first 10 years from leaving Minnesota the Stars in Texas had a long sellout streak. Plus winning the 1999 Cup did not help either lol. Vg8 unlike you i been to much of the sunbelt and will never be a hotbed for hockey. The only sunbelt cities that should have NHL teams (not including the LA Kings/Anaheim Ducks)IMO in no order should be Dallas, Tampa and North Carolina. Not sure on Nashville as they only been in playoffs a couple of times after being a mostly last place club since joinining the nhl circa 1999. Miami/South Fla. if they did not have their own buliding(they were in same buliding with NBA's Heat for while)IMO should not also have a team. So VG8 how you know every major city in US sunbelt can have a NHL team? I been to most of south and the three cities i mention are the only ones i mention. Why not the upper midwest and Seattle or Portland? The question really is if Seattle or Portland would even want or could support an NHL team. Let's remember that Seattle lost the Sonics because voters didn't want to pay for a new arena with tax dollars... Phoenix is clearly committed to having the Coyotes there because they recently built a brand new arena that is just mainly for them. Same thing in Florida... The whole point of expanding to the South is to grow the game in areas where other sports are more traditionally followed because at some point you need to expand to new areas in order to grow the sport and bring in more revenue. Before Gretzky came to LA, folks were not following the Kings that much and as one of the main stars of the game at that time, Gretzky was expected to be the one to market the game in California and also in the Southern US in general. In fact you could argue that he was helpful in having other expansion teams like Nashville, Florida, Anaheim, and the like enter the league because he allowed folks to see that hockey in the Southern areas was possible. Now if you look at the Kings and what they were before Gretzky came and what they are in it's like night and day. When they made it to Cup finals against Montréal, that was when hockey started to pick up in California and the same thing will have to happen in other cities... When teams start winning that's when they build up a fan base. The same thing could be said of the Stars and Mike Modano. He was the one that made hockey popular in Dallas because he took that team on his back when they were nothing and allowed them to build those strong playoff teams of the 90s around him that they had. Nashville could work, but the issue with them is that they're a small market club and it's imperative that they fill the seats to have any chance of obtaining any sort of high quality players. That's one reason why the Panthers went out and spent some money last year because they were becoming stagnant and rather non-entertaining to watch and haven't really been a factor since they went to the Cup finals in 96 and were swept by the Avalanche. For what it's worth if Columbus doesn't start winning some games, they could be in serious trouble because the fan base has not been there and that's a city in the North, so location isn't exactly everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted January 8, 2013 Share #140 Posted January 8, 2013 I'm not getting my hopes up on anything until I see a puck drop to begin an NHL game.... Everything else up until this point out of the NHL has been talk.... I'm waiting for ACTION. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share #141 Posted January 8, 2013 I'm not getting my hopes up on anything until I see a puck drop to begin an NHL game.... Everything else up until this point out of the NHL has been talk.... I'm waiting for ACTION. Bro i am 95% sure this will get approved by both sides i.e Bettman/NHL Owners and Fehr/NHLPA. If not approved the season will be cancelled. Plus i dont think, either side dont want to go thru embrassment of making this announcement and then their members dont approve. It would be the biggest egg thrown in their sides by fans & the public ever if this hand shake agreement is shot down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 8, 2013 Share #142 Posted January 8, 2013 lol... If both sides didn't agree with this it would be a huge embarrassment... This is a done deal... It's just an issue of making things official on paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share #143 Posted January 8, 2013 lol... If both sides didn't agree with this it would be a huge embarrassment... This is a done deal... It's just an issue of making things official on paper. Yup. I am sure the Attorneys and Accountants involved in creating this new CBA are smiling right now at the extra overtime pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 8, 2013 Share #144 Posted January 8, 2013 Yup. I am sure the Attorneys and Accountants involved in creating this new CBA are smiling right now at the extra overtime pay. You know the season isn't too far away because they had some of the best "The Day That Changed Game" re-runs on last night and this morning... The day Patrick Roy was traded to Colorado and day Wayne Gretzy was traded from the Oilers to the Kings... The Gretzky deal was just beyond stupid. If the owner didn't have cash flow he should've looked for another source, but it was insane to break up what was truly an incredible team... Paul Coffey, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, and Esa Tikkanen... All in their PRIME!!! You have GREAT two way defencemen in Coffey who was a smooth skater... A lot like Scott Niedermayer... Messier and Gretzky could score and set up folks too, Kurri with the great hands, and Tikkanen to crash the net when needed. In fact they had several of these types of players when most teams would be lucky to have one of each and then Fuhr in net.... A real shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share #145 Posted January 8, 2013 You know the season isn't too far away because they had some of the best "The Day That Changed Game" re-runs on last night and this morning... The day Patrick Roy was traded to Colorado and day Wayne Gretzy was traded from the Oilers to the Kings... The Gretzky deal was just beyond stupid. If the owner didn't have cash flow he should've looked for another source, but it was insane to break up what was truly an incredible team... Paul Coffey, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, and Esa Tikkanen... All in their PRIME!!! You have GREAT two way defencemen in Coffey who was a smooth skater... A lot like Scott Niedermayer... Messier and Gretzky could score and set up folks too, Kurri with the great hands, and Tikkanen to crash the net when needed. In fact they had several of these types of players when most teams would be lucky to have one of each and then Fuhr in net.... A real shame. VG8 talking like this Gretzky trade happened yesterday. In case you forgot it was almost 25 years ago in 1988. The then Oilers Owner might been "stupid" but the Great One singlehandely brought NHL Hockey to rest of the USA beyond New England and the Midwest. And thus changed the league forever. Just like how Babe Ruth trade to Yankees and Pele signing with the NY Cosomos changed baseball and US Soccer forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 8, 2013 Share #146 Posted January 8, 2013 VG8 talking like this Gretzky trade happened yesterday. In case you forgot it was almost 25 years ago in 1988. The then Oilers Owner might been "stupid" but the Great One singlehandely brought NHL Hockey to rest of the USA beyond New England and the Midwest. And thus changed the league forever. Just like how Babe Ruth trade to Yankees and Pele signing with the NY Cosomos changed baseball and US Soccer forever. It might as well have happened yesterday... The Oilers only won one more Stanley Cup after he was traded and then went on a decline of sorts until 2006 and since then they've been in "re-tooling" mode... Bringing this back to your Québec comments, it would be foolish to move a franchise there unless the owner has deep pockets and he can be assured of sellouts every night like they have in Winnipeg because Québec is a small market city. That's why the Nordiques left and that's why Jets left Winnipeg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share #147 Posted January 11, 2013 As the owners approved the new deal and the rest of NHLPA members also expected to vote yes by the latest Saturday (1/12/13)the season is now expected to start on January with now a 48 game regular season(just like in 1995 lockout shortended season)and full playoffs. Rangers will open in Boston vs. the Bruins that might shown on NBC Sports net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share #148 Posted January 12, 2013 Well the NHLPA this morning (1/12/13)approving the new 10 year contract, all that left to start the regular season next Saturday 1/19/13 is 'Memorandum of Understanding' final hurdle. Still it's expected to be settled by Monday or Tuesday. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2013/01/12/sp-nhl-nhlpa-lockout-cba-ratification.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 12, 2013 Share #149 Posted January 12, 2013 As I expected... I gotta call my provider and see what the story is. I think I'm automatically signed up, but I am not paying some crazy price for a lousy 48 games... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share #150 Posted January 12, 2013 As I expected... I gotta call my provider and see what the story is. I think I'm automatically signed up, but I am not paying some crazy price for a lousy 48 games... If Bettman and his NHL TV execs were smart, they would have their "Center Ice" Pay Per View package for free for at least the entire regular season. I know it wont happen but that would be a great public relations idea to get back fans ticked off from this work stoppage. Plus ticket prices as low as $10 for 'nose bleed seats" (hello NY Islanders)for couple of games as well. That would be help alot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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