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Guest4271
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 Posted - 03/18/2010 : 22:58:24
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Was there a single tipping point where the game went from being a sport full of integrity to being just about the money/ It seems to me that the league is more worried about selling Crosby t-shirts than having a fair sport.
I personally think Gretzky's first mega-contract may have had something to do with it... but who knows?
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fat_elvis_rocked
PickupHockey Pro
Canada
902 Posts |
Posted - 03/18/2010 : 23:51:28
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Sad isn't it.
I'm not sure if any one player's contract could be attributable to the game becoming money hungry. Player contracts are one of those intangibles, if not the players making their share, then what, the owners making more?
All on the backs of the fans.
I think that Gretzky's contracts pale in comparison, in ratio of what he did to single-handedly promote the game in the time he did, to what his stipend could/should have been.
If players have any fault, maybe a Lindros, and his snub at the draft, or even Mario's could be pointers to the shift, maybe an Alexei Yashin and his retarded contract at the time. The list could go on, but are they really to blame?
Maybe it was the collective decision of the owners to hire/appoint an ex-NBA executive, as commisioner, and give him the ridiculous mandate of selling the game where it can't/never should have been sold. I don't know for sure, but what I do know, is that I, as a fan for 35+ years, worry more about the product as of late, than the money it seems to want.
Fix the product, the money comes, and, the integrity of the game comes back as well.... |
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n/a
deleted
4809 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2010 : 06:20:56
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I say the tipping point comes when you reach the "racehorse/gladiator" line.
Let me explain.
Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard . . . the highest amount of money they made was $100,000 and $25,000 respectively (yes, the Rocket only made the equivalent of $800,000 these days). These were the top stars of the day, and they were wealthy enough, but certainly not at the millionnaire status they are at today.
Many of the guys playing in their day had part-time jobs alongside their NHL careers. Hockey was played for the love of the sport, and the corporate angle of using player names and faces to make money had not yet been developed.
For me, the tipping point has to have been the point at which the corporate angle took over as being the driving force in making the league money and supporting it. When did corporate sponsorship and merchandise start making more money than ticket sales? I think the answer lies around there, as that should also correlate to when the player salaries started to take off.
"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug |
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tbar
PickupHockey Pro
Canada
376 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2010 : 06:28:34
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| Would any of the other 4 major sports in North America have had anything to do with it? I think so. If the top players in baseball make 35% more then the middle of the road guys in Baseball the top players in the NHL are going to be lookig for the same. After all they all use the same agents. |
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willus3
Moderator
Canada
1948 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2010 : 06:55:40
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| It may have been the Eagleson - Orr relationship that actually started things off. This was the first time a player had retained a lawyer to negotiate a contract. If I'm remembering correctly Orr was making more than the stars in the league in his first season. Eagleson then started representing other players and things progressed from there. |
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Beans15
Moderator
Canada
8286 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2010 : 07:19:50
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Ya, if you want to talk about the contracts overall, Orr may have been the first.
Gretzky's contracts didn't really change the value of what people were paid. After his first big contract ($20 million over 25 years) he was getting around $800,000 a year. This was only marginally higher than Marcel Dionne at the time.
If you want to blame Gretzky for something, I would say it was free agency. His deals always allowed him to negotiate with anyone after it was done. Prior to his deal, most deals have an automatic negotiation period with the original club.
But I still don't blame Orr or Gretzky nearly as much as the other sports at Tbar stated and within the game, Lindros. He was the first player to make such ludicrous demands so early on in his career. I believe that it all went down hill from there.
However, I don’t think one can reasonably pin it on one person or situation. It all started in the late 70’s and built up for 25+ years.
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Not so rhetorical question? 
