One of the headlines I read yesterday said that professional hockey players have agreed to take a 24% reduction in salaries in order to end the current labor dispute in the NHL and save the hockey season after already missing 85 days of the season.
The bigger problem? I didn’t know that *any* games had been missed. It never even occurred to me that the hockey season should be underway right now.
Last year I remember reading that the NHL’s current TV contract was over and they were taking bids for a broadcaster to buy the rights. The problem was that nobody wanted the rights. The final price they were able to negotiate was $0 (but at least they will be on TV still, or would have been if they had any games). And the league is losing $250 million a year.
Hockey is indeed in a spiraling decline. I have a subscription to Sports Illustrated and last year they gave some hockey facts. The most stunning was that a non-playoff arena football game blew past the NHL All-star game in TV ratings. The same seems to be happening to the MLS. Hockey is more popular in Canada, Soccer is more popular in Europe. Yet, I am still a big Lightning fan.