October 18, 2011, HockeyPrimeTime.com column on NBA lockout and how it affects the NHL

Can the NHL avoid another labor dispute?

Columns

Written by Denis Gorman

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 15:00

While the NBA appears headed for a cancellation of its season, the NHL is hoping to avoid the same fate next year. Record-setting ratings and increases in digital and social media are steps in the right direction, but have the league and its players' union learned from their inglorious labor history? NBA commissioner David J. Stern was in New York City last week, acknowledging what many already expected. “We remain very, very apart on all issues,” he told reporters after his ruling class engaged its proletariat in what can laughably be termed a labor meeting. “With every day that goes by there will be further reductions on what’s left of the season.” It seems likely that the NBA will eventually announce that it is the second major professional sports league to cancel a season. As part of his press conference, Stern reported the cancellation of preseason games and the first two weeks of the regular season, even though the NBA and NBAPA agreed to a negotiation meeting overseen this week by a federal mediator. The vitriol between the league and its players has predictably led to both sides using the media to wage a very public PR battle. NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver claimed “the damage will be enormous” financially if a season is lost. NBAPA Executive Director Billy Hunter told Yahoo! Sports that Stern had told him the league was “going to lock out in order to get what they wanted.” New York Knicks power forward Amare Stoudemire recently suggested that the players could start a league during the lockout. The NBA's ugly promises invoke painful memories for those associated with the NHL in 2004 and 2005. “It’s tough for everyone,” then-New York Rangers defenseman Bryan McCabe told HPT.com in April. “It’s a horrible situation. I don’t wish that upon anyone. Nobody wants to be in a work stoppage (and) not be able to do what you love. It never ends well for anyone, including the fans. So hopefully they’ll get it resolved as (quickly) as possible and they start up again. “No one would wish (a lockout) on anyone, like I said." The NHL has not exactly covered itself in glory as it pertains to labor negotiations. During his tenure as unquestioned and unchallenged leader of the NHLPA, Alan Eagleson robbed his constituents to pad his and the NHL’s coffers. The lockout of 1994-95 limited that season to 48 games while also robbing the league of any casual public interest formed during the Rangers' Cup run in 1994. The 2004-05 lockout cost the league one full season and its partnership with cable television monolith ESPN. During that labor dispute, McCabe was the player representative of the Toronto Maple Leafs. With the collective bargaining agreement expiring following this season and the NHLPA having formally appointed Donald Fehr its executive director last December, there are concerns that the NHL and its Players Association are headed for another protracted boardroom confrontation. Fehr recently said that the negotiations with the league will start following the All-Star Weekend. He said that he’d “like to believe we won’t (take) that long” of time to reach an accord on another agreement. What could be argued as a first volley was fired last week when the league did not release the players’ escrow checks. During Saturday’s Hockey Night In Canada’s Hot Stove segment it was reported that the NHL and NHLPA disputed what constitutes revenue, specifically the $25 million that the City of Glendale gave to the NHL in order for the league to operate the financially moribund Phoenix Coyotes. Troubling? Perhaps. But New Jersey-based sports marketing and public relations executive Joe Favorito is hopeful that the NHL and NHLPA can avoid the pitfalls that felled the sport in the past. “What the NHL has learned in the past and what they’ve observed with the NFL and the NBA, they have better prepared people on the labor negotiation front,” Favorito said. “On the NHL Players’ Association side, you could never get someone who’s more versed in how to get deals done than Don Fehr. So hopefully you have the best of both worlds and it never comes up.” Fehr recently told The Canadian Press that the negotiations with the league will start following the All-Star Weekend. He went on to say that he’d “like to believe we won’t (take) that long” of time to reach an accord on another agreement. Obviously negotiations take time, and the NHL has that on its side. It also has the benefit of being in season as fall morphs into winter. Should the NBA experience a protracted lockout, is the NHL in position to expand its fan base to disaffected NBA fans? “The NHL clientele is different from the NBA,” Favorito said. “I don’t see much of a crossover having worked in a building where the (New York) Rangers and (New York) Knicks were pretty prominent. There’s probably a casual fan crossover. Should the NHL look for ways to engage should the lockout continue into 2012? Sure. But I don’t think that there’s much the NHL can do in certain cities (to attract) NBA fans because it’s not the same fan base. “Basketball fans are basketball fans and hockey fans are hockey fans. It’s not as big of a crossover as people think,” he added. While explaining that fan “conversion process takes a very long time,” Favorito praised the NHL’s proactive approach of promoting the league through digital and social media platforms. Commissioner Gary Bettman has routinely expressed his glee that the NHL has publicly embraced the online, digital and social media worlds. In a recent press release, the league detailed increases in its online platforms, social media usage and merchandise sales while boasting increased television ratings in the first week of the season: The Flyers-Bruins season opener attracted 874,000 viewers on Versus and the Stanley Cup Champions banner raising ceremony was the most watched regular season in the network’s history. The previous record was the 720,000 who tuned in to watch Flyers-Penguins on Oct. 7, 2010. Canadian Broadcasting Company’s Hockey Night in Canada attracted 929,000 Canadians to its season-opening pregame show on Oct. 6. That night’s Montreal Canadiens-Toronto Maple Leafs game attracted 1.935 million viewers. Two nights later, the Ottawa Senators-Maple Leafs HNIC game set a record with 2.359 million viewers. Finally, CBC stated 1.825 million viewers watched the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets’ first NHL regular season home game (RDS reported 819,000 viewers for the Canadiens-Jets game).· TSN’s broadcast of New York Rangers-Los Angeles Kings "Premiere" game from Stockholm, Sweden, had a 22 percent increase in viewership. “What the NHL has done very well the last few years is cultivate the young male, the online fan,” Favorito said. “The extra effort (by) Comcast, as the parent company, (will) roll everything together between traditional NBC Sports and NBC Sports (Universal), which is now Versus. It’s a huge marketing platform for the NHL. They don’t have to be on ESPN to succeed.” But for the league to continue to succeed and grow, games will need to be played on the ice. Just look at the NBA. Better yet, just talk to Bryan McCabe. You can follow us on Twitter @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman Photo by Getty Images

Last Updated on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 18:39

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