Nothing frustrates sports fans more than when a lockout occurs. For the past three months the National Hockey League has been in constant dispute with the National Hockey League Players’ Association about payroll agreements that were not met by the Sept. 15 deadline. With the season cancelled through the end of the month, fans are now wondering if there will be any season at all.
“If an agreement doesn’t happen by this month I don’t think there will be a season at all,” senior Jimmy Kelley said. “And if it does, it will be so short to the point where it won’t even matter.”
The thought of a winter without hockey season is making fans upset and angry at the payment dispute itself, let alone the people involved.
“This lockout is ridiculous,” senior Brendin Axtman said. “The only reason any of these people even make money is because of the fans paying for the tickets to the games.”
This is in fact true. The majority of the income for the teams comes from the tickets fans purchase to watch the event.
“It’s annoying, and I can’t spend my money now,” Kelley said. “I thought this would be the year I would really get into it and follow the NHL and now I can’t.”
It leaves fans baffled as to why in the world the executives would do this to their loyal customers.
“They’re greedy,” junior Daniel Romero said. “The owners want even more money than they already have. It’s the basic problem with fat cat CEOs where enough is never enough.”
The season has been scheduled to begin on Dec. 1, but few believe that will happen due largely in part to the fact that the season’s return date keeps getting pushed back from its original time back in September. However, it is not just the owners’ faults.
“I don’t like how each side is acting like babies,” Axtman said. “Each side will have to make a few sacrifices, but they are acting like they’ll get everything they are asking for.”
Money is known to drive some people crazy but fans are starting to get restless; many try to condescend and give their own ideas to solutions that they believe would make things run smoother, while others are just hoping for the best and planning for the worst.
“I know it is all about money,” Romero said. “I don’t understand how the owners can’t work under the current CBA during the season while negotiating a new CBA.”
A Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is a basic contract between the NHL and the Players’ Association designed to be arrived through collective bargaining, which is when employers and a group of employees aim to reach agreements that regulate working conditions. The most recent CBA expired on Sept. 15 and is the spark that set off this powder keg. It seems as though fans have no choice but to deal with the pain of missing their favorite pastime and just pray it turns out alright in the end.
“It really is a shame that we as fans have to sit through another lockout,” Axtman said. “After sitting through the full lockout of the ‘04-‘05 season, I said I would never do it again, and yet here I am, waiting patiently for them to strike a deal.”
