No Excuse: Why the NHL Lockout Is BS

Last week, the National Hockey League and its Players Association failed to reach a contract agreement. As a result, the NHL locked out the players, endangering the 2012-13 season. 

In the weeks leading up to the lockout and likely in the coming weeks as well, we as fans will hear any number of arguments from both sides. The owners have given more revenue to the players than any other professional league. Competition throughout the NHL has never been fiercer under the current system so why change? Small market teams need some help from those in larger markets. Et cetera, et cetera. 

But behind everyone of these arguments is one shrug of the shoulder attitude shared by both sides: hockey is a business. 

That is big load of bull dung. 

Of course, it's a business at one level. The teams sell tickets, t-shirts, jerseys, foam hands and clocks. The players are employees as are vendors and security and the zamboni driver. 

But unlike say an auto parts factory, the NHL and all of its member teams and players are paid on the basis of one beautiful myth, the thing that all of the fans in the world cling to as the puck drops:

At the end of the day, your team is there to compete every shift, win every game and bring the Stanley Cup home to your town. 

It's a gorgeous lie, one that every sports league relies on implicitly. The team owners and general managers want to win it all for you. The players are leaving everything on the ice for you. Every decision the team makes is to bring you that elusive Stanley Cup. It's all for you. 

Until it's not. Until it's "We care about the fans but..." Until it's "The lockout breaks my heart, but..."

You know what? Nothing you say before the word "but" actually counts. 

Most frustrating for the fans is what the actual argument here is about: the percentage of revenue each side gets to keep. The league has done nothing but improve its profile and its financial situation over the last few years. The pie has gotten bigger (thanks to the fans), but everyone is still arguing they are not getting a big enough piece. 

It's like watching my kids fight over the last few crumbs of a bag of potato chips. They both are sitting there with a bigger pile than they should eat, but neither one can stomach the idea of the other having more. So the fight ensues and all the chips end up on the floor. 

So to the NHL and players: settle this now. Get back to selling the fans the fiction that you care about us. It may not be true, but it is after all what you are in the business of peddling.