Saturday, February 19, 2005

Way to Go, NHL!

goaly 1
Good job NHL! You have successfully proved that it is human nature to never see what you have and be content. The grass must always be greener on the other side of the fence, right? Or in your case, the ice must be smoother. Either way, you have proven to be your own worst enemy. I, and my business have owned season tickets to the Minnesota Wild since day 1. We have enjoyed every season, and every game. We have seats right behind the bench and have enjoyed watching, listening and smelling the action up close and personal. Hockey was finally making inroads into mainstream pro sports routine when egos and dollars got in the way. Let's break it down into simplified common sense for you since it obviously has become too complex an issue for you to resolve. First, the NHL is a business. It is an entertainment business which means that your primary customer is us, the fans. Obviously, if you treat your customer like you don't care about them, they in turn will treat you the same way. Next, like any business, it has an owner, boss, supervisor, founder or basically, the person that took the initial risk to start the business. Also, in any business, there are employees, the people in the business that produce the product or service that the customers need or want. These people give their talents and time to the business in return for wages. For the business to be healthy there must be a balance between the revenue that the product brings in and the operating expenses that it takes to produce the product.
Attention Hockey players! Basic economic principals demand that if you, as employees, take more revenue from the business than what the business takes in, the business is not viable and can't stay operational! Also, the last I checked, no active players have taken the risk to own a team and therefore do not have the right to demand that the owner does not have the right to make a profit from his venture.
Last year, the average salary in the NHL was 1.8 million dollars. I'm no financial genius, but if you can't make it on that working an 8-month season, then you are dumber than I thought.
Well, I guess it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. You guys have decided your own fate. So go ahead, hold out for that extra few hundred grand. I'm sure the additional Ferrari will be worth it. But while you're doing that, your customers are leaving, finding other things to do and realizing that watching a bunch of arrogant, overpaid prima donnas slide around on the ice isn't that important anyway.

1 comment:

bobo said...

Very good stuff. One correction though: "the last I checked, no active players have taken the risk to own a team" -- Mario Lemieux is the obvious one as "player/owner" of the Penguins.

Cheers,

bobochan