The NHL (National Hockey League) is going to announce tomorrow that they will have a lockout. The current contract has expired and the owners and players can't seem to reach an agreement.
Three things really upset me about this:
- The sides met weekly over the last 6 weeks to discuss this - not all week, every week, just one or two days a week.
- They knew this was coming for several years and should have had some deal worked out.
- Why can't they just agree to keep the current contract in place for another season and spend the next 12 months working out a deal?
In the end, the fans (consumers) lose. Yeah, the owners and players will forego some cash - but lets face it, these people aren't hurting for money.
Greed. Plain and simple.
What other business could get away with this? "We've closed for some amount of time because we can't agree on a salary structure with our employees, so we've sent them home. But check back, cause we might reopen!"
Hogwash. Plain and simple.
EVERY business has competition - including professional sports. I've got a great minor league team here in Hershey, PA. The Bears. It is the farm team of the Colorado Avalanche. For less than $50 dollars my wife and I can drive the 7 miles to the arena, park, get two great seats, get a capucino, and be thouroughly entertained for a few hours. But I digress...
I'm pretty upset about this, in case you couldn't tell. I'm not assigning blame to either side, that does no good. They're both wrong. They care more about themselves than they do about the fans.
My apologies, I'll stop ranting..
Everyone in Canada is officially in mourning over this (post last night's big win and subsequent rioting). I have to admit, I am not wild about sports (although I don't mind watching the Leafs on occasion), but I found your book idea very intriguing. We've had a similar discussion about the parallels between team sports and running a successful office. We'll buy a copy! :-)
Posted by: aleah_sato | September 15, 2004 at 03:21 PM
Aleah,
Yeah, that was a great game last night, Finland gave them a run for their money (no pun intended).
Thank you for the kind words on the book idea!! I appreciate it! I'd be interested in any feedback you'd be willing to provide.
Thank you!
Jon
Posted by: Jon Strande | September 15, 2004 at 06:13 PM
Wait a minute - capuccino and hockey?
Posted by: Tom W. | September 19, 2004 at 06:03 PM
Tom, both indeed... who needs the NHL? ;-)
Posted by: Jon Strande | September 19, 2004 at 06:34 PM