Screw the NHL

[Big Goal]

Im an old man whose patience has reached its end. 3 stoppages during
Betmanns reign is enough. They have no respect for the fans whats so ever.
They pay lip service, the the operating philosophy is screw the fans .
The fans are the third corner of their triad but we can take them for granted.
I for one will boycott them for the balance of whats left of any season.
Skrew um!!!

[ink]

Normally I would merge this with other lockout discussion but because the NHL brass are really starting to piss everyone off, I will leave this up.

Please keep the thread clean.

[ink]

To the OP, I think you've hit the nail on the head. If there's going to be any boycotting of anything it really has to be in cancellation of season's tickets. The league will hear that.

They are taking for granted that after three lockouts they can automatically assume fans will come back home like sheep.

Third time may not be the charm for them this time.

[Boom!]

I'm no fan of Bettman but the players and Fehr definitely share the blame on this one.

[armchairgm]

Players need to realize owners are there to make money not make the players money. Think about it the players are just employees. Now think about us the fans we have jobs are our bosses out to make us rich or themselves?? Sooner players realize this the better owners will wait however long it takes there not hurting the players are.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Im an old man whose patience has reached its end. 3 stoppages during
Betmanns reign is enough. They have no respect for the fans whats so ever.
They pay lip service, the the operating philosophy is screw the fans .
The fans are the third corner of their triad but we can take them for granted.
I for one will boycott them for the balance of whats left of any season.
Skrew um!!!

I'm with you. I'm just glad I have the Raptors all season and the Jays seem to be making news every week. I'll keep my season tickets to those teams, but I haven't had Leaf tickets since the last lockout. I will remain a fan, but they will never see a penny from me again, and while I realize the Leafs are in a position that they won't care about losing my money not many teams are in that position.

[ink]

Players need to realize owners are there to make money not make the players money. Think about it the players are just employees. Now think about us the fans we have jobs are our bosses out to make us rich or themselves?? Sooner players realize this the better owners will wait however long it takes there not hurting the players are.

I hear you about the owners having a right to their own businesses. But within those parameters there are ways of behaving that just flat out alienate your fan base.

Like: frequent lockouts, mismanaging the CBA you got in the last lockout, being disingenuous when signing players this summer to contracts, not wanting to honour contracts, and most of all, playing hardball from the outset. Bettman is certainly guilty of the first and last, while the owners have themselves to blame for the other (mis)conduct I mentioned. Public perception on this is extremely bad and a huge amount of it is squarely directed at Bettman's HANDLING of the negotiations. He is the most unlikeable sports commissioner I've ever seen.

Even BEFORE the lockouts, a lot of us dislike what he has done to the NHL itself.

[militantpancake]

Im an old man whose patience has reached its end. 3 stoppages during
Betmanns reign is enough. They have no respect for the fans whats so ever.
They pay lip service, the the operating philosophy is screw the fans .
The fans are the third corner of their triad but we can take them for granted.
I for one will boycott them for the balance of whats left of any season.
Skrew um!!!

I'm with you, Big Goal. I don't want to give the impression that I've changed my lifestyle completely as a result of this lockout, but I have taken to boycotting a good number of NHL sponsors. You might also look up the sponsors of you local team and buy elsewhere. It's a token effort, I know, but every little bit makes a statement the same way every vote counts.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_are_th...ors_of_the_NHL

[Pinstripe power]

dont go to games when it comes back. don't buy jersye's, tickets, NHL packages, etc. thats the only way top get the message across, if they come back and start losing money because the fans refuse to support it becuase of the lockouts

[mlisica19]

Exactly, if your so mad at them. Just dont do anything relative to the NHL.

Me? Its the best league in the world, im coming back asap. Im annoyed, but im also annoyed at my electric company, the gas situation, general public and other things. What can ya do?

[Amburger]

Honestly, yeah this is a huge joke and i'm annoyed as hell but I just want hockey back. :/

[Wild1414]

I started watching NCAA Football.. Crazy Exciting. I am excited for one hockey event this year. The world Juniors. That will be so great to watch. Go Canada!!

[Bramaca]

I hear you about the owners having a right to their own businesses. But within those parameters there are ways of behaving that just flat out alienate your fan base.

There are also ways of behaving that the players/PA/agents have done to alienate fans. People talk a lot about things the owners have done but little is said about the consecutive CBA's that the players negotiated creating favorable negotiating power and loopholes and then exploiting it to get guarenteed contracts that are well beyond what they are worth and then trying to play the hard up every person when there is pushback.

Owners are being hardline in their negotiations just like the players and their agents are every offseason trying to stick it to the owners.

[ink]

There are also ways of behaving that the players/PA/agents have done to alienate fans. People talk a lot about things the owners have done but little is said about the consecutive CBA's that the players negotiated creating favorable negotiating power and loopholes and then exploiting it to get guarenteed contracts that are well beyond what they are worth and then trying to play the hard up every person when there is pushback.

Owners are being hardline in their negotiations just like the players and their agents are every offseason trying to stick it to the owners.

Oh there's no doubt players (THROUGH AGENTS) are driving up the stakes in all of this with their salary expectations. The problem is that the NHL picked a thoroughly unlikeable little dweeb to hardline the players with. His methods are the problem. I don't really disagree with the goals.

And I would be INFINITELY more sympathetic to the owners if they would stop gouging for tickets and raking in the profits like they do in the huge markets. Places like Toronto and Vancouver are making a killing because they can only spend to the cap AND they charge insane ticket prices at the same time. You'd think that with the cap there would be some self-restraint on the part of teams exploiting fans through ticket prices.

All in all, the owners give the impression that they are really only interested in being exploitive.

[Bramaca]

Oh there's no doubt players (THROUGH AGENTS) are driving up the stakes in all of this with their salary expectations. The problem is that the NHL picked a thoroughly unlikeable little dweeb to hardline the players with. His methods are the problem. I don't really disagree with the goals.

And I would be INFINITELY more sympathetic to the owners if they would stop gouging for tickets and raking in the profits like they do in the huge markets. Places like Toronto and Vancouver are making a killing because they can only spend to the cap AND they charge insane ticket prices at the same time. You'd think that with the cap there would be some self-restraint on the part of teams exploiting fans through ticket prices.

All in all, the owners give the impression that they are really only interested in being exploitive.

Both sides are only interested in being exploitive. The big difference is that players get days of airtime celebrating and analyzing free agency which is when they are exploiting while ownerships only real chance to play hardball is in CBA negotiations.