|
|
|
|
|
NHL season will be canceled
By Amaury Pi Gonzalez January 7, 2005 |
||
|
|
|||
|
SAN JOSE - The NHL is done. The only thing you can wait for is NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to start singing. Even Wayne Gretzky, managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes, is convinced that not salvaging this season is instant death for the NHL and any chance for an '05-'06 campaign if nothing gets resolved. The situation for professional hockey is catastrophic. I can't see how they can get a deal done unless it's a last-minute decision. Bettman told the Team 640 in Toronto, "I've said this once and I'll say it again; no one misses the game of hockey more than I do, but the players have to be economically sensible." Team 640 runs a program called "No Hockey," featuring NHL players and broadcasters. No front-office people from the league are allowed to come on the air and talk about the lockout, or they will be fined by Bettman. If they don't play in the next two years, there's no revenue for anybody and they might as well fold and start another league. According to Team 640, who does an hourly talk show on the NHL lockout situation, host Dennis Beyak mentioned the possibility of forming a new league if the NHL as we know it restructures or folds. "Last summer the talk was bringing the WHA back (which was in service during the 70s). Something of this nature probably could happen." The NHL has until about Jan. 15 to come up with a miracle. In the next week or so, if both sides do not come to an agreement, next season is going to be canceled as far as Gretzky sees it. As you know, Canada won the World Junior Hockey Championship with a victory over Russia Tuesday night. Hockey fans all over Canada were tuned to TSN and TSN had the highest rating of any program for Tuesday night. The support is still there, but if what Gretzky is saying is true, the league is done. How can you cancel this and next season? The NHL committed suicide, and I would say it has another week to revive itself. It looks like union busting and it wouldn't be the first time it happened in all walks of life. I remember the Reagan administration in the 1980s and the air traffic controllers union that was broken. Where there is union and labor, sometimes they don't come to an agreement, but I can't believe the owners did this just to break the union. I really don't think they wanted to break the union, but with every day that goes by, it looks more evident that's what they're doing I don't think the NHL is dead yet, but it's in intensive care with seven or eight days left. If they don't get a deal done, they're probably dead. Amaury Pi Gonzalez covers the NHL and has been following the league lockout. Catch Amaury's commentary on Sportstalk on KVVN 1430 San Jose and KLIB 1110 Sacramento. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||