Officially Locked-Out

It's official. There may not be any hockey again this year because Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner, and the Players Association can't find any way to work out a deal. This will be the second work stoppage in the NHL in the past eight years and the fourth work stoppage altogether. While the NHL isn't the only sports organization to deal with a lockout, the NBA and NFL both had work stoppages last year, it certainly seems the NHL is the organization that is the most prone to locking their players out of the league.

This lockout needs to end, and it needs to end now. As I mentioned in a previous blog the NHL is the fifth most marketable sports organization as it recently fell behind Major League Soccer. With continued lockouts happening we may see a substantial amount of fans dropping watching hockey similar to what happened after the NHL lockout of 2004. With such a great loss of fans and marketability already on the decline we may see a complete loss of the NHL. Personally, that would be devastating. It may also be devastating to the fans out on the west coast who may have just discovered hockey for the first time since Wayne Gretzky played in Los Angeles. The LA Kings won the Stanley cup last year which could've been huge to the expansion of the NHL. With so many bandwagon fans jumping on board with the Kings, a ton of money could have possibly been thrown into the west coast market. However that's pretty tough to do considering there may not be any hockey this year.

So come on Mr. Gambling Man, quit betting on the future of the NHL. Unless you're letting it all ride on its impending doom.