Is Gary Bettman worth as much as Sidney Crosby?
I have observed the tweets and PR wars going on by both sides. It's easy to blame both sides when both sides earn seven figures. However, there are some economic principles involved that we cannot ignore. One thing should be obvious this is not a case of a failed league trying to salvage its existence. Gary Bettman does not earn 7.5 million a year because he is trying to rescue a sinking ship. The league's revenues have quadrupled in a decade and are now in the 3 billion range. Have the player's salaries quadrupled? Jaromir Jagr made more money fifteen years ago than Sidney Crosby makes now. The owners are paying Gary Bettman in part for destroying the backbone of the player's union in 2004 and in part for the revenue boom.
All this to say the lock-out has been a timing fiasco. The NHL owners and Gary Betttman have made a critical mistake this time and have blown it. They have squandered the marketing of their two main assets in Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. If history is to be used as a reference point most hockey players have a five year span at their peak. Sidney Crosby may be half way there. Alexander Ovechkin made have passed the half way point. This was the time for the league to take full advantage of these two. As well, big market teams are possible contenders for the Stanley Cup and this would have been a publicity boon for the league. Teams such as New York and Los Angeles as well as Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago had a chance to win it all. Added to this was the recent NBA lockout and the league should have been soaring and putting up a challenge to the ever popular NBA.
The NHL owners as any capitalist do not mind making excess profits and an easy buck. However, let's make it perfectly clear very few of these owners especially the American owners bought an NHL team so they can become wealthy. The wealth was already there for many of these owners. The main reason for buying any sports franchise is the prestige for those in the 1% bracket. Other reasons include tax and combining losses with profitable enterprises.
The lock-out is more a philosophical battle over who has the real power. Gary Bettman is representing the nastiest side of capitalism -the side that negotiates in bad faith and would rather destroy the entity then back down to organized labor. This is similar to Walmart shutting down a store even if it is profitable once they have the slightest suspicion a union is about to break out. This is about whether the rich should pay their fair share or whether they should replenish an already bloated decadent wealth. This is selfish greed no more no less.
It has been disheartening as well to read the tweets of Canadian hockey journalists who seem to be in the majority siding with Bettman. There is an obvious conflict of interest especially with the TSN crew who seems to be salivating at the caving in of the NHLPA. Other media scribes who cover the hockey beat on a regular basis seem to be more interested in preserving their livelihood then in fairness and justice. When and if this lockout ends, hockey players should not forget when one of these pundits asks them for an interview and the latest gossip in the dressing room. Absurdly, it has been the American media that have sided with the players.
The NHL players have had a history of being treated in the worst possible way by the owners. The stories we hear of what happened in the past are heartbreaking. Gordie Howe being presented with a contract which he would sign without even reading it. Therefore Gordie the best player in the league would be the bargaining chip comparable the owners would hold against all the other players. The owners trading away the likes of Doug Harvey the best defenceman in the league and Ted Lindsay one of the alltime greats because they had the audacity to try and form a union. The brutal shenanigans of Alan Eagleson who held Bobby Orr's salary to a minimum so others would be forced to sign for less. Now in the last decade we have the NHL using the cutthroat tactics of the lock-out and union busting by the virulent vulturism of Gary Bettman. I am assuming Bettman felt that getting Donald Fehr's capitulation would be the feather in his capitalistic cap. He must be daydreaming of the moment when he goes on Hockey Night in Canada and smiles smugly at Ron Maclean and all the Canadian public and shows how American capitalism rules. Is Gary Bettman worth as much as Sidney Crosby? They almost make the same salary.
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