Scores of hockey fans have joined the chorus of fans across all sports, expressing their outrage over the lack of progress in negotiations between the players and team owners. With the 2012 season looking increasingly doubtful, and a recent offer rejected despite relatively minuscule differences between the two parties, fans see very few signs of hope.
The issues center on the amount of hockey-related revenues shared with players, the length of player contracts, salary arbitration, and free agency rules.
All told, some estimate that the NHL is losing between $18 and $20 million a day. Players are collectively losing between $8 and $10 million a day. Cities with NHL franchises are losing money in terms of economic dollars, and league employees have either seen salary cuts or layoffs.
Chris Coleman, mayor of St. Paul, MN, said the failed negotiations are also costing communities in less tangible ways. "It's costing good will," he told Minnesota Public Radio in October of 2012. "It's costing people income that they need. It's costing the economic vitality of the communities that host them. I just hope that they see beyond their own narrow interests and just push through to a deal."
While it's difficult to estimate the financial losses that host cities experience, St. Paul city officials calculated that, if each of the 18,000 people who attend the average Minnesota Wild game spends $50 on things like parking, dinner, drinks and hotel, that adds up to $900,000 per game. At the time of this writing, 422 games were cancelled, and if that St. Paul estimate is reliable, that means cities have been hurt to the tune of nearly $380 million.
In that October interview with MPR, Coleman said his city's proximity to Canada meant that groups of Canadian fans stayed home when a preseason game between the Wild and the Winnipeg Jets was cancelled.
"That impacts the hotel they were going to stay at," Coleman said. "It impacts the restaurants they would have eaten at. It impacts the charter bus company that was depending upon it and the drivers that would have driven that route. So that's just one instance of one group coming from one city for one night."
This is the third time in the last 19 years that players have been locked out. In the 2011-2012 season, players earned $1.7 billion, and they stand to lose that much or more if the entire season is lost. The last time the league stopped play because of failed negotiations, the entire 2004-2005 season was lost. In fact, the two sides finally came to an agreement just three months before the 2005-2006 season was set to start.
One of the major unintended issues resulting from the extended dispute is that players could face serious tax implications. The National Hockey League (or NHL) is a major American sport franchise, but the vast majority of NHL players are citizens of other countries. American tax laws allow players to file their taxes as U.S. residents if they play in the two seasons that overlap with a given American tax year, and most players opt to do just that so they can take advantage of the reduced U.S. tax rates. However, the work stoppage means that players have lived in their home countries, rather than the U.S., and so will be forced to pay their home tax rates. The resulting increase in taxes could hurt players in ways that may take a long time for them to recover.
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