NHL Settlement Reached
For those who are hockey fans, I thought I'd mention this.
Very early Sunday morning, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association announced that they had finally negotiated a tentative contract for a new collective bargaining agreement that would last for ten years (though both sides can opt out after 8 years). This means that NHL hockey is about to return to the stage of winter sports, where it has been absent for almost half the season that should have been so far. So my beloved Ottawa Senators will be returning to play either January 14th (50-game season) or January 19th (48-game season), pending ratification of the new CBA agreement by both sides.
While I'm pleased about the return of NHL hockey (I've missed it, and could have used the distraction back when the December-that-was was going on), I have to wonder whether the fans will come back to the game after the bad feelings and sheer anger that has been expressed by a percentage of fandom this last few months.
Should be interesting how the NHL's "business as usual" approach to the matter turns out, but one thing is for sure. The NHL and the NHLPA owe the fans a *gargantuan* apology, and are definitely going to have to work to earn the fans' bucks once more.
Very early Sunday morning, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association announced that they had finally negotiated a tentative contract for a new collective bargaining agreement that would last for ten years (though both sides can opt out after 8 years). This means that NHL hockey is about to return to the stage of winter sports, where it has been absent for almost half the season that should have been so far. So my beloved Ottawa Senators will be returning to play either January 14th (50-game season) or January 19th (48-game season), pending ratification of the new CBA agreement by both sides.
While I'm pleased about the return of NHL hockey (I've missed it, and could have used the distraction back when the December-that-was was going on), I have to wonder whether the fans will come back to the game after the bad feelings and sheer anger that has been expressed by a percentage of fandom this last few months.
Should be interesting how the NHL's "business as usual" approach to the matter turns out, but one thing is for sure. The NHL and the NHLPA owe the fans a *gargantuan* apology, and are definitely going to have to work to earn the fans' bucks once more.