NHL Players out of their minds - Mark Cuban

[Evil Chris]

"I think the players are a little out of their minds."

The NBA, of course, has had a salary cap for decades. NHL owners have locked out their players, and the two sides are stuck in a cap-or-no-cap stalemate.

Cuban was asked if the hockey lockout is bad for sports in general.

"Actually, it could be very good for sports if people come to their senses on what the reality of the business of sport is today," Cuban said. "Hockey could set the tone. If it's handled correctly, it could be the best thing that ever happened to hockey.

"The players need a bit of a reality check," Cuban said. "This isn't 1995. I think hockey has a great future with high-definition television, but the economics have changed, and that's just reality.

"Not only are the economics not growing for hockey, but they actually lost a television deal. If the players don't realize that, and if the owners give in, then hockey could disappear."

Here's the article (http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/2005/02/07/923065.html)

[Magnus3x]

Kill the expansion teams ... keep it at 20 teams max, if your city has a annnual snow fall of less than 4CM then you dont get a team.
Shorter seasons, less teams = better players on all teams.. make the sport exclusive and an exciting product.. the stands will be full in all cities and make bank.

[Evil Chris]

I can see the league splitting maybe. An elite league like what you describe above, still called the NHL, and a sub-league of some kind.

I don't know.. but things need to change, and I tend to agree with what Mark Cuban says.

[Torn Rose]

Baseball and the NHL need to get their heads out of their asses, when the NHL is losing $ and average players still want $30 million contracts that is just sad, they are killing themselves.

The Yanks made less then $500k in profit last year due to their payroll and they add the Big Unit and others????

The NBA and NFL isn’t perfect, but at least they have a cap.

$0.02

[dyonisus]

I am just pissed at the whole situation. The players know they make bank already. Back in 1996 I saw a players pay check stub for 2 weeks (he left it in the locker room at MLG and a friend found it) I could have bought a house with that check.

I MISS THE LEAFS - This was the season they were going all the way!

[AdultLegal-Jim]

"The NBA and NFL isn’t perfect, but at least they have a cap. "

I think they are probably as close to perfect as you can get

The smaller market teams have as much of a chance as the large market temas and except for the recent Patriots domination (i had to throw that in) the NFL is almost true parity.

I've never liked expansion it thins your talent pool, especially if you add too many temas too quickly like the NHL did

[Evil Chris]

Originally posted by dyonisus
I MISS THE LEAFS - This was the season they were going all the way! Spoken like a true fan!!!

I agree with you!!!