Alex Silverberg
11/4/2012
On Friday, November 2nd the NHL announced the cancellation
of the 2013 Winter Classic. The event, which takes place annually on January 1st,
was to feature the Toronto Maples Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings at The
Big House at the University of Michigan. Although the NHL and NHLPA met for
several hours on Saturday, the cancellation of this premier event suggests that
the chances of professional American hockey returning this year are slimmer
than ever.
The league took a big risk introducing the Winter Classic to
the U.S. television market back in 2008. The NHL was growing slowly but surely
from the ashes of the 2004 lockout and scheduled a game with all the fanfare
associated with bringing a storied game back to its outdoor roots. NBC averaged
4.1 million viewers for all five Winter Classics, with four of the matches
ranking in the top five most watched NHL games since 1975. After five years of
success, when people think New Year’s Day, they think hockey. But now, when
they think hockey, they think lockout.
The NHL, when imposing the lockout, viewed the Winter
Classic as an important date in the labor negotiations. They figured that they
would put their best offer forward before New Year’s Day in order to ensure the
event went off smoothly. This would enable them to retain big advertisers and launch
their biggest marketing campaign of the season. The problem is that the NHL’s “best”
proposal wasn’t good enough for NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr. In the tender,
the league proposed a 50-50 revenue split, which was an improvement over
previous NHL offers that demanded the players forfeit even more money from the existing
57-43 division. However, the two sides are still in disagreement on a number of
key issues, including the honoring of current player contracts in the new CBA.
As a rabid fanatic of the game, each
and every one of these days without hockey has been harder and harder. Scorned as
I may be, I know the minute they drop the puck, I’ll be watching. I can’t say
the same for the more casual fan. With no Winter Classic on the table, it is
hopefully becoming very clear to both sides that any season and all associated
revenue will be lost if they do not agree to a deal within the coming weeks.
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