Donald Fehr Preparing NHL For Another Lockout
By Tim Redinger
It seems that the NHL and the NHLPA are preparing for a lockout following the 2021-2022 season already, as Donald Fehr and Bill Daly are already at odds with each other.
With a current collective bargaining agreement in place between the National Hockey League and the Players Association for the next eight years, if the two sides are that adamant about a work stoppage – why discuss the possibilities of a work stoppage, as opposed to working on the issues that would create a work stoppage?
NHL Labor Stoppages
The NHL has already had four work stoppages. In 1992 the players went on strike for ten days, only returning to the ice when the teams agreed to give players a bigger playoff bonus, control over their likeness, and changes to the free agency system. 1994-1995 season was shortened as the league played one year without a CBA, but would not continue that mantra without an agreement in place between the players union and the league. 2012-2013 was basically a repeat of the 1994-1995 stand-off, over the salary cap and other financial issues. Both seasons ended up being a shortened 48 games and only intra-conference play.
Fans and teams missed an entire season in 2004-2005 as neither party, the NHL or the NHLPA thought that a deal could be brokered without missing an entire season.
Donald Fehr’s Track Record
Fehr came to the NHLPA by way of the MLBPA, and it seems that his mantra his to lockout and create work stoppages. He is the only union director in pro sports to have successfully created a work stoppage in two sports. Six of his eight contract negotiations with leagues have resulted in work stoppages.
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It seems as if Donald Fehr has his heart set on cancelling a season, or at least shortening it, he is going to get his way. How can a man hate sports so much?
Fehr recently told the Hockey Writers that he thinks that every CBA expiration is going to be followed by a lockout, because of the owners.
When you get down to the nitty-gritty of who caused the lockouts, you’re going to get a different answer on either side. Players will always blame the owners, and owners will always say they were willing to deal.
With seven years to go before this should even be an issue, the fact that it is coming up now should give both sides enough pause to realize what is at stake, and take care of the issues well before teams and players start missing out on revenue and game checks.
It Isn’t Just About Players and Teams
Pressure from fans isn’t going to prevent a lockout from happening. If the owners think they want to reconfigure the wheel again, they will lock out the players. If the players think they are being taken advantage of, then there is going to be no movement on them to agree to anything that the league does offer.
Pressure from the fans is useless – the NHL knows that fans will come back in droves to arenas around North America when the stoppage is over. It is a proven fact – it has happened time and time again.
The NHL lost ESPN after a lockout, and the folks at NBC gave the NHL the hey, you’re going to be in breach of contract and we won’t bring you back if you don’t play. Pressure from their television sponsors is going to be key, because if the NHL loses NBC – who do they turn to next?
What about all the other advertisements that teams are piling on? We have ads on the boards – hell we even have ads on the boards that change. You have digital ads on the glass behind the nets for television viewers. How long will it be before every pane of glass around a rink has an advertisement on it? There is already talk of NHL jerseys bearing sponsors – and the AHL already does that.
It isn’t going to take another lockout for the NHL to further step away from tradition and sell out space on their sweaters.
Brace for it hockey fans. Another work stoppage is coming, and seven years isn’t all that far away. With Bill Daly and Donald Fehr already entrenching themselves with lockout talk – there doesn’t seem to be a way of avoiding it.