Thursday, November 25, 2004

 

Money for Nothing; Cheques for Free!

I’m sure you’ve seen those advertisements in newspapers, bulletin boards, and telephone poles promising that you can earn $5,000-$10,000 a month from your own home.

Too good to be true?

Not if you’re a member of the NHLPA Guild!!!

The Province (our local parrot cage liner/newspaper) has details of the NHLPA’s lockout plan to help support the poor starving players and keep them out of the soup kitchens.

The NHL Players' Association will pay out between $29 million and $44 million US in lockout pay this season.


The payments will start this month with more than 730 players getting $10,000 each for November and another $10,000 for December.


Subsequent monthly payments will vary between $5,000 or $10,000. The NHLPA refused to detail the payment schedule but said the "initial" plan will cover the next 24 months.


Those numbers would work out to a minimum of $40,000 and maximum of $60,000 per player through April, although the maximum would likely not be reached.


Wow, I’d love to make that salary at my current job, much less make that money just for sitting at home while eating Doritos and watching soap operas.

The plan also specifies that each member of the NHLPA will earn the same lockout pay, which is really great news for the low-paid Juraj Kolnik’s of the world.

What irks me is that players such as Jaromir Jagr, who are earning millions in Russian oil money playing in Europe, are also going to get paid under this plan.

Sure, these players paid into the plan through their various NHLPA dues and merchandising, but it seems silly that the NHLPA feels the need to ‘support’ players who are currently doing quite well playing in Europe.

I don’t have a problem with players going to Europe while the NHL has locked them out, but I feel the money should really target the players who currently aren’t playing (Excluding the injured ones who get paid anyway) or fall into the lower half of the salary structure. I’m sure Jagr can really get along fine without an extra $10,000 this month.

The NHLPA has this plan in place for the next 24 months. This doesn’t mean that the NHLPA members will not get more anxious for a settlement. If you are a Mike Modano and you have a massive mortage to pay, $10,000 a month is not going to get it done for you.

Comments:
wow. yet again someone is kissing owners butt.

a) strike funds are not unusual, being paid to walk a picket line has been going on for decades, the amount paid out by the union is directly related to the unions ability to pay it out. IE the union which the strikers have funded is repaying the money back to those who supported the union in the past.

b) the owners are doing the exact same thing, and as pointed out previously, they are raping people to get their war chest (over expansion fees providing nearly 100% of the owners strike chest. this means 4 CITIES, all of which will be greatly HARMED by the strike, have paid the owners bills. you didn't cry a tear for THAT
 
It looks like Mr. Anonymous has selective vision.

I've blamed ownership and overmatched GM's (read the Kevin Lowe rant) for a large part of the financial mess that the NHL is in. Yet, you seem to think I'm kissing the owners' collective behind?

The NHLPA Guild's 'Lockout Fund' is hardly the same as your Steelworkers Union's fund...the NHLPA makes mega bucks from licensing fees and merchandise sales. The players overall can easily get more out of the fund than they paid into it thanks to the extra revenue.

As for the Owners, the expansion money was not solely targetted for a lockout fund. Mr. Buttman genuininely(sp) believed that these markets could help the game. The owners have all had to put in their share into this pool, and now it's a matter of who blinks first.
 
getting more out then you put in happens a lot. they are called pension funds. the value of the nhlpa logo AND the individual players faces are what is increasing some strike payments. I'm pretty sure you don;t what to get into a debate that the players own their own likenesses and names and their abilty to sell that name has little to do with bettman's hard line.

as for bettman, the expansion fund was more than the war chest. about 20% moreand while it is likely they did not spend all of it on the war chest, a large portion of it is in the war chest. in addition i'd be positively SHOICKED if there wasn't some accounting move that converted revenue into war chest money and helped push the reported financial losses even higher.

but to most simply rebutt the money position. bettman expanded the cba he now so firmly and publicly hates on purpose to allow the expansion of hockey into 30 markets.

this money IS used for the wa chest.

the league doesnt have 30 qualified owners (the blues owner for example, doesnt even like hockey, he wanted a basketball team instead but the nba wont deal with him), it doesnt have 30 supported cities, and it has a growing issue with almost all of its canadian markets which bettman has imho purposely allowed to continue.

the players are locked out and most of them are paying for it with losses, depiste partial strike fund payments. indeed it is the players willing to talk about real consessions first. the owners locked out the players, suspended the jobs of arean crews and allied trades (most of which are NOT getting any strike fund) gutted their staffs, and are funding their losses though others to a greater extent than you have allowed on these pages.
 
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