March 1, 2005

DIVORCE NECESSARY IF HOCKEY TO RETURN TO PROMINENCE

      The two combatants have turned a disagreement into a marital separation—and the only result has to be a divorce.  NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is arrogant, condescending and self-indulgent while Players Association leader Bob Goodenow is humourless, colourless and combative. Neither man can back away and look like a weakling so for this long and bitterly drawn out fight to end it will be necessary for these two men to be removed from the ring.  They will not lose their jobs—neither entity would show such weakness—but for the fight to be resolved neither man can have a say in the outcome.  New point men have to be elected.

       Bettman has taken hockey to a new level—a low level.  He has turned what was once an exciting fast paced game into a slow plodding affair.  The reason—money.  Bettman wanted to inundate the U.S. with NHL hockey and hoped that by expanding into every conceivable market he could envelope the country and make the game less of a regional affair and more of a national pastime.  The results, however, have been horrendous.  Expansion teams could certainly not be expected to compete right away, but for interest to grow—and it had to be quickly—the teams needed to be competitive and so the game slowed to a crawl.  Lesser talented squads were allowed to stay in games by hooking and holding the far more talented players on more established clubs, resulting in lower scoring games and muddling affairs.  While the games were indeed closer, and otherwise lousy teams like Minnesota were able to take advantage of the new non-rules to make the playoffs, the entertainment value of the league went straight into the toilet.  The game did not become a national affair—the games were far too boring for non-fans to turn away from their dog shows, their stock car races and their bowling matches.

      Goodenow knows about the history of labour relations in sports.  He knows that for decades the players were taken advantage of and used and abused.  He also knows that for the past few decades the players have dictated labour relations and have seen the comforts for their brethren reach all-time highs in all sports.  He knows that the game of hockey is on a downward spiral, but he also knows that it isn’t the fault of the players so why should they have to save the sport from the league and its ownership.  He is willing to meet the owners somewhere around the middle—after some time and some very pungent discussions—and is willing to create a new labour agreement that would benefit the players and the teams.  He is unwilling, however, to give away the power that the players have acquired over the decades and if they give in on certain conditions they will do so at their own pace and on their own terms. 

       The game itself is in poor shape.  There isn’t enough of a fan base to compensate for the lack of excitement and the lack of trust between the two negotiating sides.  If an agreement is ever reached it will take some time before many of those fans return.  The league can assume that the hard-core fan—the one that has grown up with the game and will watch it regardless of change—will return.  The problem becomes—how many of those hard-core fans remain?  There certainly aren’t that many in the U.S. and with Bettman having given up the spirit of the game in search of the almighty U.S. dollar it will present him with an interesting conundrum.  Many cities will be unable to stay financially afloat while the game begins its rebirth—and after everything is said and done the game may return to its pre-Bettman ways.

       The NHL is a lot like the CFL.  The Canadian game decided that the only way to succeed was to expand into U.S. markets.  When that venture failed—and when it did it almost forced the league into terminal bankruptcy—the league’s minds decided to throw all their money, and all their attention back into the league’s Canadian clubs.  The CFL is undergoing a rebirth in attention and quality, and is back to where it was before all that extraneous stuff took place. 

      Perhaps former CFL commissioner Larry Smith—the mastermind behind the failed U.S. experiment—should call for a meeting with Bettman and describe his experiences.  Before it’s too late for the game of hockey to survive.