A devenit din ce in ce mai clar in ultimii ani: NHL pierde bani seriosi in fiecare sezon. salariile jucatoriilor au iesit practic de sub control. echipe "mici" (ca buget) nu mai au sanse sa retina jucatori de calitate din momentul in care acestia devin UFA, ceea ce are, pe linga efectul pe plan sportiv, un impact negativ asupra numarului de spectatori, contracte de publicitate, pe scurt, buget.

citate din declaratia lui Gary Biteme (uhhh Bettman):

Twenty of our Clubs are losing money. There have been too many bankruptcies and too many other close calls. I have had too many owners tell me they will get out of this game if the economics are not repaired.

It is a fact -- a fact -- that during this CBA, a team in the top one-third in salaries has been three times more likely to make the playoffs than a team in the bottom third. That is a status quo with which we simply cannot continue to live. Our game and our fans deserve better.

There is no short-cut or quick fix. We need an enforceable, defined relationship between revenues and expenses. We need a system that will eliminate the disparities in payrolls, so that a team's ability to compete depends on its team-building skills, not on its ability to pay.

Included in those frameworks was a willingness for the players to receive more than 50% of every dollar of revenues our business generates. It may be less than the players are getting now, but we won't apologize for an offer that is more than fair.

We offered the Union systems that would continue to pay multi-million dollar salaries to our star players. We will not apologize for contracts which could still be in excess of $6 million per year, even if some players would make less than they are now getting.

We offered the Union systems that would provide an average player salary of $1.3 million, U.S., per season. An average salary of $1.3 million may be less than the players are getting now, but we will not apologize for an average player salary of $1.3 million per season.

That said, we do apologize to our millions of fans and the thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on our game. It is truly unfortunate that we have to go through this. I assure you that no one is more unhappy about this situation than I am.

We owe it to hockey's fans to achieve an economic system that will result in affordable ticket prices and stable, competitive franchises. The very future of our game is at stake, and the NHL's owners are united, as never before -- determined to do everything humanly possible to bring hockey's economic system into the 21st century. We have no other choice.
intreaga declaratie la http://www.nhlcbanews.com/news/bog_meeting091504.html

that's it folks. no hockey this fall .