The biggest question is whether the NHL can hold its next season without a big boost in attendance revenueGETTY IMAGES
Labor relations between the NHL and NHLPA have "turned decidedly co-operative," which gives the league a "decent chance to come out on the other side of this global pandemic in somewhat the same form," according to Damien Cox of the TORONTO STAR. The biggest question is "whether the NHL can resume without substantial income from selling tickets and filling arenas." A few months of "bubble hockey without fans is one thing." The players had "already been paid." But another season "without ticket revenue of any kind just doesn’t work." The next six months, and "possibly the next year, is going to represent the biggest challenge for the NHL and the union" since the '04-05 lockout. Right now, the "signs are positive." But if the business "can’t get back to pre-pandemic revenue levels relatively soon," the CBA "could be threatened, particularly if the players aren’t willing to absorb significant pay cuts" (TORONTO STAR, 9/26).
CAN LEAGUE PRORATE PAY? In N.Y., Larry Brooks writes over the past few weeks, there have been "questions about whether players under NHL contract -- and that includes those toiling in the AHL or ECHL -- might be obligated to accept prorating of their salaries if less than a full slate of games is played" in '20-21. There have been "murmurs that the league might seek to invoke the force majeure clause (Paragraph 17) of the Standard Player’s Contract in order to prorate pay in the event of a truncated schedule." But for Brooks, the subject has "already been adjudicated," according to a Memorandum of Understanding crafted by the NHL and NHLPA in their return-to-play agreement. There is "nothing in the MOU that refers to the league getting a do-over on this if next season’s schedule is truncated" (N.Y. POST, 9/27).
MISERY LOVES COMPANY: In N.Y., Kurt Streeter writes the NHL, "desperate for viewers, produced an eye-popping promotional video" for the Stanley Cup Final. But "nothing about it highlighted hockey’s beauty." Instead, it was an "homage to misery." Streeter: "Masochism on ice. What a thing to celebrate." The "tone-deaf advertisement," sent out on the NHL's Twitter account and "now conveniently deleted, came from a league that has long struggled to address the toll of its brutality." With the ad, the NHL "demonstrated its continued embrace of machismo and violence" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/28).
