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2020 Offseason Miscellaneous Thread

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Forslund may have to sit out a year and see what TV jobs are open next summer. He could do fill in work when somebody needs time off. He has done some college BB so he could do that for a year if a job is open.

NHL needs to drop their fantasy of 82 games and also Jan 1 start.
 
jeffbear said:
I mean, everybody would prefer a full time guy. That was the issue for Johnny here as well. NBC needs to either hire him full time or change their contract structure so he can take a job with a team. Nobody's going to go for a deal where they have to run a replacement play by play guy for any significant chunk of the schedule ... especially not in a year when it looks like TV broadcasts will be your only fan outlet for much of the season.
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Which is why I think he’s getting the full time NBC gig. Doc withdrew from the Devils play by play in 2011 for a strictly national schedule. Kenny Albert still works the NFL and is the radio voice for the Rangers. I can’t see him giving up all that for the lead NHL role.
 
andyt said:
Which is why I think he’s getting the full time NBC gig. Doc withdrew from the Devils play by play in 2011 for a strictly national schedule. Kenny Albert still works the NFL and is the radio voice for the Rangers. I can’t see him giving up all that for the lead NHL role.
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I agree. I assume the timing of that it tied up in the pace of negotiations for next NHL rights deal, which nearly everyone now expects will go to NBC again ... in part if not in whole.
 
Dr. Fauci says don't expect full stadiums/arenas until next Sept. That assumes your state is run by a non moron like here in NC Some states already don't give a damn like Florida , home of many older people. What could go wrong there?
 
I am hoping he gets the full time job, just to take the sting out of his leaving. I'd certainly watch more national games than I did previously. I'd also hope that he'd have some leverage on their schedule, just to make it more relevant to the standings. Not that that would mean more Canes appearances or anything like that...
 
HNIM said:
I am hoping he gets the full time job, just to take the sting out of his leaving. I'd certainly watch more national games than I did previously. I'd also hope that he'd have some leverage on their schedule, just to make it more relevant to the standings. Not that that would mean more Canes appearances or anything like that...
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I simply can't imagine a scenario where the play by play guy gets a say in the Network schedule. So long as Comcast/Universal/NBC have the contract, you're gonna see the same steady stream of Flyers, Rangers, Penguins, Capitals and Blackhawks games you've come to know and loathe.
 
Don't know how many times the Yankees and Red Sox play each other , seems like it's around 50 based on how often those games are on TV. Follow the money

Not sure if it is still true but before interleague play a lot of AL teams preferred playing those 2 teams vs teams near them to sell more tickets and get better ratings. . Like when the Canes preferred playing the teams with local fans to boost ticket sales. Hopefully those days are over
 
Allen Walsh, who, to be fair is a player agent working for Octagon, has some thoughts on the owners salary demands on the return to work negotiations. Apparantly, the owners are floating the idea of invoking Force Majeure and cancelling the season. That constitutes a lockout, which is forbidden in the new CBA.

There are other tweets in this same vein on his timeline.

 
Well, I mean ... it's effectively a lockout, but if they're successful in proving Force Majeure* then it wouldn't technically be a lockout. Force Majeure basically releases both sides of responsibility for circumstances beyond either's control. It's been used in pandemics before, so there would be legal precedent in the US for sure. The players can and would fight it, but I don't think they'd win. If there's no way for the NHL to operate under the current conditions without guaranteeing a financial loss, and you can invoke the "act of God" clause with a straight face ... yeah. That's what the thing is there for.

Now, doing that would re-set the labor relations clock to "we're actively at labor war over every single thing, no matter how small" ... but I don't see a way out of this where they owners don't have to basically fund around 50-70% of operations out of their own pockets (depending on TV/radio revenues) and that's not sustainable or even reasonable.

* cant remember if the correct terms is proving or perfecting, but (like bankruptcy) you can't just shout "force majeure" in front of the courthouse and call it a day. You'll have to convince a Federal Judge in the NHL's assigned US District that you are justified in asserting the clause in the CBA. Again, given the precedence of FJ being used during pandemics in the past, it's as likely as not to be successful should the owners want to drop a bomb on their relationship with the players in this manner.
 
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Frank Seravalli tweeted that the league has shared draft schedules with the NHLPA, one of which had a 56 game schedule. They all had a January 1 start date but both sides have discussed pushing that back.

Of course, it’s all moot if they can’t figure out the economics...

 
The Devils and Rangers will not release Jack Hughes and Alexis LaFreniere, respectively, for the WJC. Additionally, the Blackhawks will only release Kirby Dach if it doesn’t affect their training camp. He’s in Canada’s camp in Red Deer, under lockdown, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he left as soon as it was over.
 
I think force majeure also involves insurance companies in many cases. That assumes they have insurance for it which may not be true
 
Honestly folks ... the more I've thought about it, I wouldn't have a fundamental issue if the NHL does pursue a force majeure shutdown for this season. I know the players will be getting hosed out of a year's salary, but look ... if they can't get an agreement done in time for anything more than half a season in 2021, and still won't be able to count on ticket revenues for much if not all of those games then this whole thing is an exercise in "how much money can we lose in a short season?" Chalking the whole thing up to an unforeseen and unavoidable force of nature and just starting over in the fall on the regular schedule with the reasonable expectation of something resembling normal gate revenues seems like a logical play to me.
 
Paulie Walnuts said:
Wimbledon had insurance that included Pandemics. I guess those policies will be popular now but not cheap.
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The Big East recouped most of the loss of their tournament through insurance. They got a $10.5 million payout, which is in the range of their estimated $10 - 13 million tournament revenue.

www.sportico.com

Big East Recoups $10.5 Million From Men’s Basketball Tournament Insurance Policy

After the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 Big East tournament, the conference's insurance policy helped it recoup lost revenue.
www.sportico.com www.sportico.com
 
jeffbear said:
Honestly folks ... the more I've thought about it, I wouldn't have a fundamental issue if the NHL does pursue a force majeure shutdown for this season. I know the players will be getting hosed out of a year's salary, but look ... if they can't get an agreement done in time for anything more than half a season in 2021, and still won't be able to count on ticket revenues for much if not all of those games then this whole thing is an exercise in "how much money can we lose in a short season?" Chalking the whole thing up to an unforeseen and unavoidable force of nature and just starting over in the fall on the regular schedule with the reasonable expectation of something resembling normal gate revenues seems like a logical play to me.
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Yea, to be honest I could just hit the reset button myself. Would be happy for society to get thru the spring mostly intact. As my dad used to say, “sometimes bad sh*t happens to good people”. Nobody to blame here so please don’t make an effort to prove there is!
 
We might have some semblance of a hockey season after all. Dreger tweeted that sources say there will be no more discussions on proposed changes to the MOU. The players offered to defer more salary on Sunday but no change to the escrow. So now,they’re focused on a mid-January start, 52-56 games.

 
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