RIP, NHL 2004-2005 Season

February 16, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Sports 

Today, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the entire 2004-2005 season has been cancelled.  This the first time since the league was established that the championship was cancelled with the exception of 1919 (when an influenza epidemic ended the season).

The NHL locked out the players after the players announced a strike against the league before the season started in September.  The league has pushed for a salary cap from the beginning – the players have resisted any salary cap.

I put the entire blame on the players.  There is no reason for someone who plays hockey to make multi-millions per year to play what is at best the lowest rung major league sport in North America.  The inflated salaries have priced the game out of the reach of most fans.  The owners have to raise ticket prices in order to cover these exorbitant salaries.

In Philadelphia, the most expensive seats cost $85 each!  The LEAST expensive cost $23 each!  Contrast that with the NY Yankees, who only charge $12 per tickets for the cheapest seats.

While I’ll miss the season (and I already have missed it from October until now), it’ll only affect my TV viewing as I really can’t afford to go to many NHL games.  I’ll be watching my ECHL Trenton Titans where the entire 36-game season costs no more than $27 per game (including parking), and the cheapest seats are $10.50 for adults and $8.50 for children (who are $8.50 for all seats but the two rows next to the glass).  The caliber of ECHL play has been above par this year, as the lack of injury callups has kept the AHL and ECHL rosters full of high quality players (who would normally move up due to NHL injuries).  In fact, I’ll be at tonight’s game in Trenton!

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