imgreat95
02-17-2005, 04:22 PM
this article is actually from a year ago at this time, but thought it was well worth reading...
The SportsFan Magazine Plan to Save the NHL!
By James J. Patterson
Thursday, February 12, 2004
The SFM Plan for the NHL!
If National Hockey League fans want to see the game they love survive, it’ll be up to them to save it. To put it as simply as we can, the NHL is in big trouble and there are only two reasons why: The players and commissioner Gary Bettman.
Last summer, Major League Baseball players and owners stopped their bickering when they learned that fans were seriously considering a boycott if the players and owners couldn’t reach agreement.
Now, hockey fans may have to make a statement of our own as the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) comes under review this summer, and as the league’s executives gather to consider yet another round of changes to the game itself.
It’s time the fans stood up and screamed, “Enough! We want our game back!”
Before things go any further, SportsFan Magazine has decided to weigh-in with our own recommendations and present to you The SFM Plan for Saving the NHL.
Part 1: The Game
As a warm up to this summer’s festivities, commissioner Bettman recently huddled the league’s general managers together somewhere in the desert and came up with yet another hair-brained plan to “fix” a game that wasn’t broken until he got his hands on it.
First of all, the GMs want goalies to wear smaller pads and quit straying behind the net. We think everyone agrees that goalie equipment has gotten huge, is an unnatural force in the game, and should be the subject of strict oversight throughout the season. It’s hard to believe the league hasn’t stepped in meaningfully until now.
As far as straying from the crease goes, Darren Pang of ESPN is correct when he says that half the goalies in the league actually create scoring chances for the opposing team when they stray from the crease. SFM recommends that the blue crease area in front of the net form a complete circle around the goal. Goalies would be able to roam in a circle around the net without fear of being checked but would be fair game if they leave the protective blue circle.
We also believe that goalies should be able to check opponents entering that protected blue area without fear of retaliation. Call it The Billy Smith rule.
GMs recommended that the nets be put back closer to the boards, 10 feet instead of 13 feet away. SFM recommends that six feet be returned to the neutral zone. Hall of Famers Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy believe that Bettman’s initial changing of the lines and net configuration is what gave birth to the hated “trap.” Reversing this horrible decision could help bring the game back into balance.
SFM believes that bringing back the tag-up offsides is a no-brainer.
The comissioner also has his shorts in a knot about ties. Sure, tie games in October and November are ho-hum, but on January 10th this year the Maple Leafs and the Lightning played to a 4-4 tie that was a real thriller; both teams giving their all for the two-point win. It isn’t the fans who don’t like ties.
The GMs currently want three standings points for a win, two for a tie and one for an over-time loss. A team getting a standings point for a loss simply insults everyone’s sense of fair play and violates the entire concept of winning and losing.
Is any idea more clearly labeled “Stupid?”
SFM believes it’s supposed to be two points for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss, get it?
When Gary Bettman became commissioner a decade ago, he was hired to do two things. Clamp down on the union and get the league on network TV in the states. In that amount of time, players’ salaries have soared and not only does the league get next-to-no exposure on the networks, but ESPN is about to show them the door as well.
That’s 0-for-2.
Bettman, a virtual hockey know-nothing, came over from the NBA at a time when Wayne Gretzky was parking behind the opposing net making plays. The know-nothings at the networks wanted more scoring, so Bettman brought the nets forward thinking that with a little help lesser players could be like Gretzky. This had the unforeseen effect of creating a shorter neutral zone giving birth to “the trap.”
The result? Less scoring, not more.
Gary then heard the know-nothings complain about not being able to see the puck. The fact is that the puck is easier to follow than a baseball, and nobody ever wanted a glowing baseball. But hey, nobody wanted the glow-puck either.
The know nothings thought that politically correct TV audience they were trying to appeal to would object to fighting, so the commissioner instigated the “Instigator Rule.” The result? Less physical play, more clutching and grabbing and less scoring.
To counter the clutching and grabbing, he cracked down on “interference” and “obstruction.” The result? There’s just as much clutching and grabbing, yet players are penalized for every good check near the boards; meanwhile, they’re scoring less and less in the process.
To make all this possible, Bettman added an extra referee to an already crowded ice surface, making it more crowded still. The result? More penalties slowing down the “flow of the game” and yes, just as much clutching and grabbing less hitting and less scoring.
SFM believes the Instigator Rule should be dropped, allowing players to police themselves on the ice as they had for 80 years before Bettman. Fans everywhere are checking in with their disappointment that the instigator rule will not be repealed. If fans could have one rule change in the last decade reversed, that would be the one.
Remember, all of these (failed) rules changes to beef up scoring and eliminate physical play are to please TV executives with whom the NHL doesn’t have a deal! Shouldn’t the deal happen first, and the craven sellout for money and the appeasement of casual fans come later like in the other three leagues? These know-nothing inspired changes have resulted in nearly a huge drop-off in goals per game, denuded the sport of its ‘ruff-tuff’ play, and chased away most of its core supporters among the fans.
And still the stupid ideas keep coming.
Some are calling for elimination of the center red line, but the red line was introduced in the 1940s to speed up game!
Some say make the neutral zone red and blue lines fatter, but how is that better than simply returning them to their pre-Bettman configuration?
Some say they want “no-touch icing,” but why eliminate the speed chase for the puck?
Newsflash, it’s exciting! Other morons have suggested making the nets wider.
Part 2: The Lockout
NHL players were talking tough about the upcoming lockout at the recently concluded All-Star Game in Minnesota. Some of them went so far as to say, “We’ll stay out a year or more if we have to.”
The players’ union has figured out how to twist union law, originally intended to protect industrial workers and farm hands, to jack up salaries to catastrophic levels. Bettman, meanwhile, is single-handedly ruining the game in an ill-fated attempt to woo a contract out of American TV networks, and chasing away legions of regular customers (i.e., die-hard fans) in the process.
What we’re left with are skyrocketing ticket prices and an on-ice product not worth the price of admission.
Look at the changes mentioned above. Most of them are actually roll backs of Bettman’s bad decisions in the last decade. It begs the question: What is it going to take to get good leadership at the top of the NHL?
And we mean both on the corporate side and the union side.
Half the league is currently experiencing a huge drop-off in attendance. For a league whose No. 1 supplier of revenue is still the fans at the gate, that’s ruinous. The attendance drops off not because of over-expansion into southern markets, and it’s not because Americans don’t like hockey.
It’s because ticket prices are too high, and when fans do shell out the money, the games, quite frankly, stink.
Until the latest round of ticket-price hikes, at least winning teams could fill their arenas; but now, even that is changing. The Boston Bruins have one of the best teams in the league with a huge base of loyal fans. They are currently a half dozen points away from first overall, they play in hockey’s best division, are in a hot contest with the Maple Leafs, Senators, Devils and Flyers for bragging rights in the East. Yet their attendance is down in the lower depths of the league with the pathetic Penguins, Blackhawks, Capitals and Hurricanes. Why? Because ticket prices down low cost $120 per game and tickets up high cost $40. That’s too much! And Bruins fans know their hockey, and don’t like what they see even when they’re winning. It’s that simple.
Hockey’s problems are not nearly as complicated as the commissioner and union would have you believe. Simply return the game to its pre-Bettman orientation and the on-ice product will correct itself.
As for the player salaries, that’s simple too. SFM believes the league should lock the players out and replace them on the ice. Demand only two things: An end to gaurenteed contracts by the inclusion of a buy-out clause, and a return to free agency at age 32. There’s just no sense in having a lockout without replacement players. Trust me, something wonderful happens when spoiled millionaires stop getting checks and see other players wearing their uniforms. The NFL proved that 20 years ago and have had little trouble since.
Plus, the league thrived for nearly a century because it rewarded its franchises for developing players. For the replacement games, reduce the ticket prices 90% and make your money selling popcorn and beer. The guarenteed contract is the boogey monster that no one has the nerve to confront. Allowing a team to rectify a mistake while at the same time retaining its players will put the financial side of the ledger back into balance. Once that is accomplished, and the lock out is over, the league can raise ticket prices comensorate with expenses and tickets will only cost a fraction of what they cost now.
The union will knuckle under to these demands, but only if fans are able to continue going to games. Remember, fans pay to see the emblem on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. And that is simply because the names change but the emblem stays the same.
In it’s December 30th issue, The Hockey News named its 100 most influential people in the sport. First and second were Gary Bettman and union boss Bob Goodenow respectively. Down at lowly 100 was “Joe Fan.” “Remember,” says THN, ‘It’s the fans billions players and owners are fighting over. Baseball fans threatening abandonment won their first non work stoppage in three decades.” And they are right. Hockey fans need to take matters into their own hands and take back their game before it’s too late. E-mail your GMs, team owners and local hockey writers and tell’m to adopt the SFM plan!
It’s time to Dump Bettman. Dump high salaries and high-ticket prices, and return the game to its 1990 configuration. The game was fine until Gary Bettman broke it.
In his resignation speech, he will owe us an apology.
###
Publisher James J. Patterson, life-long advocate for fans, is available to further explain The SFM Plan. He can be reached for interviews at 1-877-326-2649.
The SportsFan Magazine Plan to Save the NHL!
By James J. Patterson
Thursday, February 12, 2004
The SFM Plan for the NHL!
If National Hockey League fans want to see the game they love survive, it’ll be up to them to save it. To put it as simply as we can, the NHL is in big trouble and there are only two reasons why: The players and commissioner Gary Bettman.
Last summer, Major League Baseball players and owners stopped their bickering when they learned that fans were seriously considering a boycott if the players and owners couldn’t reach agreement.
Now, hockey fans may have to make a statement of our own as the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) comes under review this summer, and as the league’s executives gather to consider yet another round of changes to the game itself.
It’s time the fans stood up and screamed, “Enough! We want our game back!”
Before things go any further, SportsFan Magazine has decided to weigh-in with our own recommendations and present to you The SFM Plan for Saving the NHL.
Part 1: The Game
As a warm up to this summer’s festivities, commissioner Bettman recently huddled the league’s general managers together somewhere in the desert and came up with yet another hair-brained plan to “fix” a game that wasn’t broken until he got his hands on it.
First of all, the GMs want goalies to wear smaller pads and quit straying behind the net. We think everyone agrees that goalie equipment has gotten huge, is an unnatural force in the game, and should be the subject of strict oversight throughout the season. It’s hard to believe the league hasn’t stepped in meaningfully until now.
As far as straying from the crease goes, Darren Pang of ESPN is correct when he says that half the goalies in the league actually create scoring chances for the opposing team when they stray from the crease. SFM recommends that the blue crease area in front of the net form a complete circle around the goal. Goalies would be able to roam in a circle around the net without fear of being checked but would be fair game if they leave the protective blue circle.
We also believe that goalies should be able to check opponents entering that protected blue area without fear of retaliation. Call it The Billy Smith rule.
GMs recommended that the nets be put back closer to the boards, 10 feet instead of 13 feet away. SFM recommends that six feet be returned to the neutral zone. Hall of Famers Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy believe that Bettman’s initial changing of the lines and net configuration is what gave birth to the hated “trap.” Reversing this horrible decision could help bring the game back into balance.
SFM believes that bringing back the tag-up offsides is a no-brainer.
The comissioner also has his shorts in a knot about ties. Sure, tie games in October and November are ho-hum, but on January 10th this year the Maple Leafs and the Lightning played to a 4-4 tie that was a real thriller; both teams giving their all for the two-point win. It isn’t the fans who don’t like ties.
The GMs currently want three standings points for a win, two for a tie and one for an over-time loss. A team getting a standings point for a loss simply insults everyone’s sense of fair play and violates the entire concept of winning and losing.
Is any idea more clearly labeled “Stupid?”
SFM believes it’s supposed to be two points for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss, get it?
When Gary Bettman became commissioner a decade ago, he was hired to do two things. Clamp down on the union and get the league on network TV in the states. In that amount of time, players’ salaries have soared and not only does the league get next-to-no exposure on the networks, but ESPN is about to show them the door as well.
That’s 0-for-2.
Bettman, a virtual hockey know-nothing, came over from the NBA at a time when Wayne Gretzky was parking behind the opposing net making plays. The know-nothings at the networks wanted more scoring, so Bettman brought the nets forward thinking that with a little help lesser players could be like Gretzky. This had the unforeseen effect of creating a shorter neutral zone giving birth to “the trap.”
The result? Less scoring, not more.
Gary then heard the know-nothings complain about not being able to see the puck. The fact is that the puck is easier to follow than a baseball, and nobody ever wanted a glowing baseball. But hey, nobody wanted the glow-puck either.
The know nothings thought that politically correct TV audience they were trying to appeal to would object to fighting, so the commissioner instigated the “Instigator Rule.” The result? Less physical play, more clutching and grabbing and less scoring.
To counter the clutching and grabbing, he cracked down on “interference” and “obstruction.” The result? There’s just as much clutching and grabbing, yet players are penalized for every good check near the boards; meanwhile, they’re scoring less and less in the process.
To make all this possible, Bettman added an extra referee to an already crowded ice surface, making it more crowded still. The result? More penalties slowing down the “flow of the game” and yes, just as much clutching and grabbing less hitting and less scoring.
SFM believes the Instigator Rule should be dropped, allowing players to police themselves on the ice as they had for 80 years before Bettman. Fans everywhere are checking in with their disappointment that the instigator rule will not be repealed. If fans could have one rule change in the last decade reversed, that would be the one.
Remember, all of these (failed) rules changes to beef up scoring and eliminate physical play are to please TV executives with whom the NHL doesn’t have a deal! Shouldn’t the deal happen first, and the craven sellout for money and the appeasement of casual fans come later like in the other three leagues? These know-nothing inspired changes have resulted in nearly a huge drop-off in goals per game, denuded the sport of its ‘ruff-tuff’ play, and chased away most of its core supporters among the fans.
And still the stupid ideas keep coming.
Some are calling for elimination of the center red line, but the red line was introduced in the 1940s to speed up game!
Some say make the neutral zone red and blue lines fatter, but how is that better than simply returning them to their pre-Bettman configuration?
Some say they want “no-touch icing,” but why eliminate the speed chase for the puck?
Newsflash, it’s exciting! Other morons have suggested making the nets wider.
Part 2: The Lockout
NHL players were talking tough about the upcoming lockout at the recently concluded All-Star Game in Minnesota. Some of them went so far as to say, “We’ll stay out a year or more if we have to.”
The players’ union has figured out how to twist union law, originally intended to protect industrial workers and farm hands, to jack up salaries to catastrophic levels. Bettman, meanwhile, is single-handedly ruining the game in an ill-fated attempt to woo a contract out of American TV networks, and chasing away legions of regular customers (i.e., die-hard fans) in the process.
What we’re left with are skyrocketing ticket prices and an on-ice product not worth the price of admission.
Look at the changes mentioned above. Most of them are actually roll backs of Bettman’s bad decisions in the last decade. It begs the question: What is it going to take to get good leadership at the top of the NHL?
And we mean both on the corporate side and the union side.
Half the league is currently experiencing a huge drop-off in attendance. For a league whose No. 1 supplier of revenue is still the fans at the gate, that’s ruinous. The attendance drops off not because of over-expansion into southern markets, and it’s not because Americans don’t like hockey.
It’s because ticket prices are too high, and when fans do shell out the money, the games, quite frankly, stink.
Until the latest round of ticket-price hikes, at least winning teams could fill their arenas; but now, even that is changing. The Boston Bruins have one of the best teams in the league with a huge base of loyal fans. They are currently a half dozen points away from first overall, they play in hockey’s best division, are in a hot contest with the Maple Leafs, Senators, Devils and Flyers for bragging rights in the East. Yet their attendance is down in the lower depths of the league with the pathetic Penguins, Blackhawks, Capitals and Hurricanes. Why? Because ticket prices down low cost $120 per game and tickets up high cost $40. That’s too much! And Bruins fans know their hockey, and don’t like what they see even when they’re winning. It’s that simple.
Hockey’s problems are not nearly as complicated as the commissioner and union would have you believe. Simply return the game to its pre-Bettman orientation and the on-ice product will correct itself.
As for the player salaries, that’s simple too. SFM believes the league should lock the players out and replace them on the ice. Demand only two things: An end to gaurenteed contracts by the inclusion of a buy-out clause, and a return to free agency at age 32. There’s just no sense in having a lockout without replacement players. Trust me, something wonderful happens when spoiled millionaires stop getting checks and see other players wearing their uniforms. The NFL proved that 20 years ago and have had little trouble since.
Plus, the league thrived for nearly a century because it rewarded its franchises for developing players. For the replacement games, reduce the ticket prices 90% and make your money selling popcorn and beer. The guarenteed contract is the boogey monster that no one has the nerve to confront. Allowing a team to rectify a mistake while at the same time retaining its players will put the financial side of the ledger back into balance. Once that is accomplished, and the lock out is over, the league can raise ticket prices comensorate with expenses and tickets will only cost a fraction of what they cost now.
The union will knuckle under to these demands, but only if fans are able to continue going to games. Remember, fans pay to see the emblem on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. And that is simply because the names change but the emblem stays the same.
In it’s December 30th issue, The Hockey News named its 100 most influential people in the sport. First and second were Gary Bettman and union boss Bob Goodenow respectively. Down at lowly 100 was “Joe Fan.” “Remember,” says THN, ‘It’s the fans billions players and owners are fighting over. Baseball fans threatening abandonment won their first non work stoppage in three decades.” And they are right. Hockey fans need to take matters into their own hands and take back their game before it’s too late. E-mail your GMs, team owners and local hockey writers and tell’m to adopt the SFM plan!
It’s time to Dump Bettman. Dump high salaries and high-ticket prices, and return the game to its 1990 configuration. The game was fine until Gary Bettman broke it.
In his resignation speech, he will owe us an apology.
###
Publisher James J. Patterson, life-long advocate for fans, is available to further explain The SFM Plan. He can be reached for interviews at 1-877-326-2649.