National Hockey League
1185 Avenue of the Americas
Dear Commissioner Bettman,
I write to you today to express my great concern about the trajectory of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA ) negotiations. While I self admit that I am not fully knowledgeable about the details of the negotiations, and I rely substantially on media reports which cannot hope to fully describe the facts (and in some cases may distort them), I am greatly saddened to learn that there is a strong potential that another bad day for the game of ice hockey may be on its way.
Let me succinct, having any kind of work stoppage is a bad day for the sport of ice hockey and is a bad thing for everyone, owners, players, and especially the consumer who pays in to make the sport a success.
The National Hockey League (NHL ), like any other sports franchise, is a business fundamentally, and ought to be. Ultimately, it is an entertainment business that engages its customers in spending their income on something that is not required to sustain life, but hopefully enlivens it. To work, there have to be consumers who are willing to pay for not only the expenses, but also enough to prolong and make an investment in the industry worthwhile. So in essence, I do not argue the economic facts that the owners need to make a profit, the players need to make a requisite amount for their services, and the consumer has to be able to be willing to pay the ticket/concessions/merchandise costs to make it all work. A work stoppage, as you have now seen twice, is a serious downer for any and all of this to work.
I am fundamentally a fan of the sport of hockey; the NHL surely, but more centrally the sport of hockey. The NHL as the flagship form of the sport is critical to the image of what the sport is in the wider marketplace of sports generally. I concur with your numerous reiterations that hockey has never been faster, more talented, and simply better than it has ever been thanks to the level of competition and what is put on the ice in the NHL as a product. I, for one, have been glad to see the rise in market share the NHL has gotten relative to Basketball (NBA), Baseball (MLB), and Football (NFL) in the US. Hockey is really on the verge of not being the perennial “next rung” sport in the US market, but instead be on par, or even perhaps surpass some of them in terms of viewer-ship, following, and overall profitability. There is, however, the specter in the closet that the NHL cannot be counted on to get past itself to rise to a true contender for prominence, and another work stoppage would backslide all of the gains you have made; I say again it would be a sad day for hockey.
As I said, I am a fan of the sport, and I play the sport. The groundswell of support that ice hockey is getting in areas across the USA at all levels is there because of the absolute interest that the sport has garnered at the professional level. Looking purely at the NCAA college hockey scene, there is excitement at all levels, programs are growing, and more schools are seeing that hockey is a great addition to their portfolio (especially as women’s hockey has really flourished in the US). If the NHL doesn’t have games, I can promise you I will get my hockey fix, and it very well be a switch that is made that may have repercussions of frequency for when the NHL is back playing. I am sure I am not the only fan that is out there that is gravely concerned that the modus operandi for CBA negotiation cycles is that there is going to be a work stoppage in the NHL henceforward. That kind of thinking makes any potential work stoppage a bad day for hockey.
Lastly, because of the international nature of ice hockey, I would hate to see the best league for hockey move from a North American center of gravity to Europe. The KHL has continued to prove it is highly competitive and is starting to draw serious prospects that are delaying coming to the NHL ., if not altogether choosing to stay in Russia NHL , which the best players in the world come to North America to play, will be seriously damaged, if not destroyed if there is yet another work stoppage. Again, a bad day for hockey.
Mr. Fehr has offered that the NHLPA is willing to work on some sort of interim level or agreement into the beginning of next season, it would seem that the owner’s side has been a hold up for any hope that an interim accommodation could be made. Again, I am without the benefit of the full facts, but I implore you to not allow the season to start late or a single game be cancelled as a part of the present negotiation effort. As I opened, this is a business decision on a fundamental level, and I don’t want the business of hockey to suffer because of intractability on any side. The best answer, the non-damaging answer, is that you and others work through the challenges and come to an agreement for a long period of time. If that is not possible, get into place an interim agreement that allows hockey to be played while the parties hammer out that long-term deal. I am all for tragedy on the stage and accepting of the agony of the defeat of my favorite hockey club on the ice, but I am forcefully against a tragedy that can occur because those in board rooms and in front offices won’t see the forest for the trees, inclusive of their own best interest in starting and playing this next season on-time and without a break in work.
Thanks for your reading the above and willingness to see this through to a good and fruitful end and simply not have a bad day in hockey.
Yours,
Erik C. Backus, P.E., LEED AP
Hockey Fan
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